THE  MAN  WHO   KNEW 


BOOKS  BY 


ANGEL  ESQUIRE 

THE  ANGEL,  OF  TERROR 

THE  BLACK  ABBOT 

BLUE  HAND 

CAPTAINS  OP  SOULS 

THE  CLEVER  ONE 

THE  CLUE  OF  THE  NEW  PIN 

THE  CLUE  OF  THE  TWISTED 

CANDLE 

THE    CRIMSON  CIRCLE 
THE   DAFFODIL  MURDER 
THE    DARK    EYES    OF   LONDON 
DIANA  OF  KARA-KARA 
THE    DOOR    WITH    SEVEN 

LOCKS 

THE    FACE   IN  THE  NIGHT 
THE    FELLOWSHIP   OF  THE 

FROG 

THE    FLYING  SQUAD 
THE   FOUR  JUST  MEN 
THE    GIRL   FROM   SCOTLAND 

YARD 

THE  GREEN  ARCHER 
GREEN  RUST 


GUNMAN'S  BLUFP 

THE  HAIRY  ARM 

JACK  ©'JUDGMENT 

KATE  PLUS  10 

A  KING  BY  NIGHT 

THE    MAN  WHO  KNEW 

THE    MELODY  OF  DEATH 

THE    MISSING  MILLIONS 

THE   MURDER    BOOK    OF    J.    G. 

REEDER 

THE    NORTHING  TRAMP 
THE    RINGER 
THE    SECRET  HOUSE 
THE    SINISTER  MAN 
THE    SQUEALER 
THE    STRANGE    COUNTESS 
TAM  O'  THE  SCOOTS 
THE   TERRIBLE  PEOPLE 
TERROR  KEEP 
THE    TRAITORS'   GATE 
THE    THREE  JUST  MEN 
THE   TWISTER 
THE    VALLHY   OF   GHOSTS 


THE  MAN  WHO 
KNEW 


By  EDGAR  WALLACE 


A.  L.  BURT    COMPANY 

Publishers  New  York 

Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


Copyright,  1918 

BY  SMALL,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 
(INCORPORATED) 


Second  Printing^  January ) 


Stack 

Annex 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  THE  MAN  IN  THE  LABORATORY    ...  9 

II  THE  GIRL  WHO  CRIED 27 

III  FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS  ....  40 

IV  THE  ACCOUNTANT  AT  THE  BANK  ...  59 
V  JOHN  MINUTE'S  LEGACY 73 

VI  THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 99 

VII  INTRODUCING  MR.  REX  HOLLAND  .  .  109 

VIII  SERGEANT  SMITH  CALLS 135 

IX  FRANK  MERRILL  AT  THE  ALTAR  ...  155 

X  A  MURDER 175 

XI  THE  CASE  AGAINST  FRANK  MERRILL  .  201 

XII  THE  TRIAL  OF  FRANK  MERRILL  ...  220 

XIII  THE  MAN  WTHO  CAME  TO  MONTREUX  243 

XIV  THE  MAN  WHO  LOOKED  LIKE  FRANK  261 
XV  A  LETTER  IN  THE  GRATE 279 

XVI  THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH    .    .  289 

XVII  THE  MAN  CALLED  "MERRILL"  .   .   .  317 


THE  MAN  WHO   KNEW 


THE  MAN  WHO   KNEW 

CHAPTER   I 

THE    MAN    IN    THE   LABORATORY 

THE  room  was  a  small  one,  and  had 
been  chosen  for  its  remoteness  from  the 
dwelling  rooms.  It  had  formed  the  billiard 
room,  which  the  former  owner  of  Weald  Lodge 
had  added  to  his  premises,  and  John  Minute, 
who  had  neither  the  time  nor  the  patience  for 
billiards,  had  readily  handed  over  this  damp 
annex  to  his  scientific  secretary. 

Along  one  side  ran  a  plain  deal  bench  which 
was  crowded  with  glass  stills  and  test  tubes. 
In  the  middle  was  as  plain  a  table,  with  half 
a  dozen  books,  a  microscope  under  a  glass 
shade,  a  little  wooden  case  which  was  opened 
to  display  an  array  of  delicate  scientific  in- 
struments, a  Bunsen  burner,  which  was  burn- 

9 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

ing  bluely  under  a  small  glass  bowl  half  filled 
with  a  dark  and  turgid  concoction  of  some 
kind. 

The  face  of  the  man  sitting  at  the  table 
watching  this  unsavory  stew  was  hidden  be- 
hind a  mica  and  rubber  mask,  for  the  fumes 
which  were  being  given  off  by  the  fluid  were 
neither  pleasant  nor  healthy.  Save  for  a 
shaded  light  upon  the  table  and  the  blue  glow 
of  the  Bunsen  lamp,  the  room  was  in  darkness. 
Now  and  again  the  student  would  take  a  glass 
rod,  dip  it  for  an  instant  into  the  boiling  liquid, 
and,  lifting  it,  would  allow  the  liquid  drop  by 
drop  to  fall  from  the  rod  on  to  a  strip  of  litmus 
paper.  What  he  saw  was  evidently  satis- 
factory, and  presently  he  turned  out  the  Bun- 
sen  lamp,  walked  to  the  window  and  opened  it, 
and  switched  on  an  electric  fan  to  aid  the 
process  of  ventilation. 

He  removed  his  mask,  revealing  the  face  of 
a  good-looking  young  man,  rather  pale,  with 
a  slight  dark  mustache  and  heavy,  black,  wavy 
hair.  He  closed  the  window,  filled  his  pipe 

10 


THE  MAN   IN  THE  LABORATORY 

from  the  well-worn  pouch  which  he  took  from 
his  pocket,  and  began  to  write  in  a  notebook, 
stopping  now  and  again  to  consult  some 
authority  from  the  books  before  him. 

In  half  an  hour  he  had  finished  this  work, 
had  blotted  and  closed  his  book,  and,  pushing 
back  his  chair,  gave  himself  up  to  reverie. 
They  were  not  pleasant  thoughts  to  judge  by 
his  face.  He  pulled  from  his  inside  pocket  a 
leather  case  and  opened  it.  From  this  he  took 
a  photograph.  It  was  the  picture  of  a  girl  of 
sixteen.  It  was  a  pretty  face,  a  little  sad,  but 
attractive  in  its  very  weakness.  He  looked  at 
it  for  a  long  time,  shaking  his  head  as  at  an 
unpleasant  thought. 

There  came  a  gentle  tap  at  the  door,  and 
quickly  he  replaced  the  photograph  in  his  case, 
folded  it,  and  returned  it  to  his  pocket  as  he 
rose  to  unlock  the  door. 

John  Minute,  who  entered,  sniffed  sus- 
piciously. 

'  What  beastly  smells  you  have  in  here, 
Jasper !  "  he  growled.  "  Why  on  earth  don't 

ii 


THE   MAN   WHO  KNEW 

they  invent  chemicals  that  are  more  agreeable 
to  the  nose?  " 

Jasper  Cole  laughed  quietly. 

"  I  'm  afraid,  sir,  that  nature  has  ordered  it 
otherwise,"  he  said. 

"Have  you  finished?"  asked  his  employer. 

He  looked  at  the  still  warm  bowl  of  fluid 
suspiciously. 

"  It  is  all  right,  sir,"  said  Jasper.  "  It  is 
only  noxious  when  it  is  boiling.  That  is  why 
I  keep  the  door  locked." 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  asked  John  Minute,  scowling 
down  at  the  unoffending  liquor. 

"  It  is  many  things,"  said  the  other  ruefully. 
"  In  point  of  fact,  it  is  an  experiment.  The 
bowl  contains  one  or  two  elements  which  will 
only  mix  with  the  others  at  a  certain  tem- 
perature, and  as  an  experiment  it  is  successful 
because  I  have  kept  the  unmixable  elements  in 
suspension,  though  the  liquid  has  gone  cold." 

"  I  hope  you  will  enjoy  your  dinner,  even 
though  it  has  gone  cold,"  grumbled  John 
Minute. 

12 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  LABORATORY 

"  I  did  n't  hear  the  bell,  sir,"  said  Jasper 
Cole.  "  I  'm  awfully  sorry  if  I  Ve  kept  you 
waiting." 

They  were  the  only  two  present  in  the  big, 
black-looking  dining  room,  and  dinner  was  as 
usual  a  fairly  silent  meal.  John  Minute  read 
the  newspapers,  particularly  that  portion  of 
them  which  dealt  with  the  latest  fluctuations 
in  the  stock  market. 

"  Somebody  has  been  buying  Gwelo  Deeps," 
he  complained  loudly. 

Jasper  looked  up. 

"Gwelo  Deeps?"  he  said.  "But  they  are 
the  shares  —  " 

'  Yes,  yes,"  said  the  other  testily;  "  I  know. 
They  were  quoted  at  a  shilling  last  week;  they 
are  up  to  two  shillings  and  threepence.  I  've 
got  five  hundred  thousand  of  them;  to  be  ex- 
act," he  corrected  himself,  "  I  Ve  got  a  million 
of  them,  though  half  of  them  are  not  my 
property.  I  am  almost  tempted  to  sell." 

:<  Perhaps  they  have  found  gold,"  suggested 
Jasper. 

13 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

John  Minute  snorted. 

"If  there  is  gold  in  the  Gwelo  Deeps  there 
are  diamonds  on  the  downs,"  he  said  scorn- 
fully. "  By  the  way,  the  other  five  hundred 
thousand  shares  belong  to  May." 

Jasper  Cole  raised  his  eyebrows  as  much  in 
interrogation  as  in  surprise. 

John  Minute  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and 
manipulated  his  gold  toothpick. 

"  May  Nuttall's  father  was  the  best  friend 
I  ever  had,"  he  said  gruffly.  "  He  lured  me 
into  the  Gwelo  Deeps  against  my  better  judg- 
ment. We  sank  a  bore  three  thousand  feet 
and  found  everything  except  gold." 

He  gave  one  of  his  brief,  rumbling  chuckles. 

!<  I  wish  that  mine  had  been  a  success.  Poor 
old  Bill  Nuttall !  He  helped  me  in  some  tight 
places." 

"  And  I  think  you  have  done  your  best  for 
his  daughter,  sir." 

"  She 's  a  nice  girl,"  said  John  Minute, 
"  a  dear  girl.  I  'm  not  taken  with  girls."  He 
made  a  wry  face.  "  But  May  is  as  honest  and 

H 


THE  MAN   IN  THE  LABORATORY 

as  sweet  as  they  make  them.  She  *s  the  sort 
of  girl  who  looks  you  in  the  eye  when  she  talks 
to  you ;  there 's  no  damned  nonsense  about 
May." 

Jasper  Cole  concealed  a  smile. 

'  What  the  devil  are  you  grinning  at  ?  " 
demanded  John  Minute. 

"  I  also  was  thinking  that  there  was  no 
nonsense  about  her/'  he  said. 

John  Minute  swung  round. 

"  Jasper,"  he  said,  "  May  is  the  kind  of  girl 
I  would!  like  you  to  marry;  in  fact,  she  is  the 
girl  I  would  like  you  to  marry." 

"  I  think  Frank  would  have  something  to 
say  about  that,"  said  the  other,  stirring  his 
coffee, 

"Frank!"  snorted  John  Minute.  "What 
the  devil  do  I  care  about  Frank?  Frank  has 
to  do  as  he 's  told  He  's  a  lucky  young  man 
and  a  bit  of  a  rascal,  too,  I  'm  thinking.  Frank 
would  marry  anybody  with  a  pretty  face. 
Why,  if  I  hadn't  interfered  — " 

Jasper  looked  up. 

15 


THE   MAN   WHO  KNEW 

"Yes?" 

"  Never  mind,"  growled  John  Minute. 

As  was  his  practice,  he  sat  a  long  time  over 
dinner,  half  awake  and  half  asleep.  Jasper  had 
annexed  one  of  the  newspapers,  and  was  read- 
ing it.  This  was  the  routine  which  marked 
every  evening  of  his  life  save  on  those  occa- 
sions when  he  made  a  visit  to  London.  He 
was  in  the  midst  of  an  article  by  a  famous 
scientist  on  radium  emanation,  when  John 
Minute  continued  a  conversation  which  he  had 
broken  off  an  hour  ago. 

"  I  'm  worried  about  May  sometimes." 

Jasper  put  down  his  paper. 

"Worried!    Why?" 

"  I  am  worried.  Is  n't  that  enough  ? " 
growled  the  other.  "  I  wish  you  would  n't 
ask  me  a  lot  of  questions,  Jasper.  You  irritate 
me  beyond  endurance." 

"Well,  I'll  take  it  that  you're  worried," 
said  his  confidential  secretary  patiently,  "  and 
that  you  've  good  reason." 

"  I  feel  responsible  for  her,  and  I  hate 
16 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  LABORATORY 

responsibilities  of  all  kinds.  The  responsi- 
bilities of  children  —  " 

He  winced  and  changed  the  subject,  nor  did 
he  return  to  it  for  several  days. 

Instead  he  opened  up  a  new  line. 

"  Sergeant  Smith  was  here  when  I  was  out, 
I  understand,"  he  said. 

"  He  came  this  afternoon  —  yes." 

"  Did  you  see  him  ?  " 

Jasper  nodded. 

"What  did  he  want?" 

"  He  wanted  to  see  you,  as  far  as  I  could 
make  out.  You  were  saying  the  other  day 
that  he  drinks." 

"  Drinks !  "  said  the  other  scornfully.  "  He 
does  n't  drink ;  he  eats  it.  What  do  you  think 
about  Sergeant  Smith  ?  "  he  demanded. 

"  I  think  he  is  a  very  curious  person,"  said 
the  other  frankly,  "  and  I  can't  understand 
why  you  go  to  such  trouble  to  shield  him  or 
why  you  send  him  money  every  week." 

"  One  of  these  days  you  '11  understand," 
said  the  other,  and  his  prophecy  was  to  be  ful- 

17 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

filled.  "  For  the  present,  it  is  enough  to  say 
that  if  there  are  two  ways  out  of  a  difficulty, 
one  of  which  is  unpleasant  and  one  of  which 
is  less  unpleasant,  I  take  the  less  unpleasant  of 
the  two.  It  is  less  unpleasant  to  pay  Sergeant 
Smith  a  weekly  stipend  than  it  is  to  be  an- 
noyed, and  I  should  most  certainly  be  annoyed 
if  I  did  not  pay  him." 

He  rose  up  slowly  from  the  chair  and 
stretched  himself. 

"  Sergeant  Smith/'  he  said  again,  "  is  a 
pretty  tough  proposition.  I  know,  and  I  have 
known  him  for  years.  In  my  business,  Jasper, 
I  have  had  to  know  some  queer  people,  and 
I  Ve  had  to  do  some  queer  things.  I  am  not 
so  sure  that  they  would  look  well  in  print, 
though  I  am  not  sensitive  as  to  what  news- 
papers say  about  me  or  I  should  have  been  in 
my  grave  years  ago;  but  Sergeant  Smith  and 
his  knowledge  touches  me  at  a  raw  place.  You 
are  always  messing  about  with  narcotics  and 
muck  of  all  kinds,  and  you  will  understand 
when  I  tell  you  that  the  money  I  give  Sergeant 

18 


THE   MAN   IN  THE   LABORATORY 

Smith  every  week  serves  a  double  purpose.  It 
is  an  opiate  and  a  prophy —  " 

"Prophylactic,"  suggested  the  other. 

"  That 's  the  word,"  said  John  Minute.  "  I 
was  never  a  whale  at  the  long  uns ;  when  I  was 
twelve  I  could  n't  write  my  own  name,  and 
when  I  was  nineteen  I  used  to  spell  it  with 
two  n's." 

He  chuckled  again. 

"  Opiate  and  prophylactic,"  he  repeated, 
nodding  his  head.  "  That 's  Sergeant  Smith. 
He  is  a  dangerous  devil  because  he  is  a  rascal." 

"  Constable  Wiseman  —  "  began  Jasper. 

"  Constable  Wiseman,"  snapped  John  Min- 
ute, rubbing  his  hand  through  his  rumpled 
gray  hair,  "  is  a  dangerous  devil  because  he  's 
a  fool.  What  has  Constable  Wiseman  been 
here  about?  " 

"  He  did  n't  come  here,"  smiled  Jasper.  "  I 
met  him  on  the  road  and  had  a  little  talk  with 
him." 

'  You  might  have  been  better  employed," 
said  John  Minute  gruffly.  '*  That  silly  ass  has 

19 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

summoned  me  three  times.    One  of  these  days 
I  '11  get  him  thrown  out  of  the  force." 

"  He 's  not  a  bad  sort  of  fellow,"  soothed 
Jasper  Cole.  "  He  's  rather  stupid,  but  other- 
wise he  is  a  decent,  well-conducted  man  with 
a  sense  of  the  law." 

"  Did  he  say  anything  worth  repeating?  " 
asked  John  Minute. 

"  He  was  saying  that  Sergeant  Smith  is  a 
disciplinarian." 

"  I  know  of  nobody  more  of  a  disciplinarian 
than  Sergeant  Smith,"  said  the  other  sarcasti- 
cally, "  particularly  when  he  is  getting  over  a 
jag.  The  keenest  sense  of  duty  is  that  pos- 
sessed by  a  man  who  has  broken  the  law  and 
has  not  been  found  out.  I  think  I  will  go  to 
bed,"  he  added,  looking  at  the  clock  on  the 
mantelpiece.  "  I  am  going  up  to  town  to- 
morrow. I  want  to  see  May." 

"  Is  anything  worrying  you?  "  asked  Jasper. 

'  The  bank  is  worrying  me,"  said  the  old 
man. 

Jasper  Cole  looked  at  him  steadily. 
20 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  LABORATORY 

"  What 's  wrong  with  the  bank?  " 

"  There  is  nothing  wrong  with  the  bank,  and 
the  knowledge  that  my  dear  nephew,  Frank 
Merrill,  esquire,  is  accountant  at  one  of  its 
branches  removes  any  lingering  doubt  in  my 
mind  as  to  its  stability.  And  I  wish  to  Heaven 
you  'd  get  out  of  the  habit  of  asking  me  '  why  ' 
this  happens  or  '  why  '  I  do  that." 

Jasper  lit  a  cigar  before  replying: 

'  The  only  way  you  can  find  things  out  in 
this  world  is  by  asking  questions." 

"  Well,  ask  somebody  else,"  boomed  John 
Minute  at  the  door. 

Jasper  took  up  his  paper,  but  was  not  to  be 
left  to  the  enjoyment  its  columns  offered,  for 
five  minutes  later  John  Minute  appeared  in  the 
doorway,  minus  his  tie  and  coat,  having  been 
surprised  in  the  act  of  undressing  with  an  idea 
which  called  for  development. 

"  Send  a  cable  in  the  morning  to  the  manager 
of  the  Gwelo  Deeps  and  ask  him  if  there  is 
any  report.  By  the  way,  you  are  the  secretary 
of  the  company,  I  suppose  you  know  that  ?  " 

21 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  Am  I  ?  "  asked  the  startled  Jasper. 

"  Frank  was,  and  I  don't  suppose  he  has 
been  doing  the  work  now.  You  had  better  find 
out  or  you  will  be  getting  me  into  a  lot  of 
trouble  with  the  registrar.  We  ought  to  have 
a  board  meeting." 

"  Am  I  the  directors,  too  ?  "  asked  Jasper 
innocently. 

"  It  is  very  likely,"  said  John  Minute.  "  I 
know  I  am  chairman,  but  there  has  never  been 
any  need  to  hold  a  meeting.  You  had  better 
find  out  from  Frank  when  the  last  was  held." 

He  went  away,  to  reappear  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  later,  this  time  in  his  pajamas. 

'  That  mission  May  is  running,"  he  began, 
"  they  are  probably  short  of  money.  You 
might  inquire  of  their  secretary.  They  will 
have  a  secretary,  I  '11  be  bound !  If  they  want 
anything  send  it  on  to  them." 

He  walked  to  the  sideboard  and  mixed  him- 
self a  whisky  and  soda. 

:i  I  Ve  been  out  the  last  three  or  four  times 
Smith  has  called.  If  he  comes  to-morrow  tell 

22 


THE  MAN   IN  THE   LABORATORY 

him  I  will  see  him  when  I  return.  Bolt  the 
doors  and  don't  leave  it  to  that  jackass, 
Wilkins." 

Jasper  nodded. 

"  You  think  I  am  a  little  mad,  don't  you, 
Jasper  ?  "  asked  the  older  man,  standing  by  the 
sideboard  with  the  glass  in  his  hand. 

"  That  thought  has  never  occurred  to  me," 
said  Jasper.  "  I  think  you  are  eccentric  some- 
times and  inclined  to  exaggerate  the  dangers 
which  surround  you." 

The  other  shook  his  head. 

"  I  shall  die  a  violent  death ;  I  know  it. 
When  I  was  in  Zululand  an  old  witch  doctor 
'  tossed  the  bones/  You  have  never  had  that 
experience  ?  " 

"  I  can't  say  that  I  have,"  said  Jasper,  with 
a  little  smile. 

'  You  can  laugh  at  that  sort  of  thing,  but 
I  tell  you  I  Ve  got  a  great  faith  in  it.  Once  in 
the  king's  kraal  and  once  in  Echowe  it  hap- 
pened, and  both  witch  doctors  told  me  the  same 
thing  —  that  I  'd  die  by  violence.  I  did  n't 

23 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

use  to  worry  about  it  very  much,  but  I  suppose 
I  'm  growing  old  now,  and  living  surrounded 
by  the  law,  as  it  were,  I  am  too  law-abiding. 
A  law-abiding  man  is  one  who  is  afraid  of 
people  who  are  not  law-abiding,  and  I  am 
getting  to  that  stage.  You  laugh  at  me  be- 
cause I  'm  jumpy  whenever  I  see  a  stranger 
hanging  around  the  house,  but  I  have  got  more 
enemies  to  the  square  yard  than  most  people 
have  to  the  county.  I  suppose  you  think  I  am 
subject  to  delusions  and  ought  to  be  put  under 
restraint.  A  rich  man  has  n't  a  very  happy 
time,"  he  went  on,  speaking  half  to  himself 
and  half  to  the  young  man.  :<  I  Ve  met  all 
sorts  of  people  in  this  country  and  been  intro- 
duced as  John  Minute,  the  millionaire,  and  do 
you  know  what  they  say  as  soon  as  my  back 
is  turned  ?  " 

Jasper  offered  no  suggestion. 
'  They  say  this,"   John   Minute   went   on, 
"  whether  they  're  young  or  old,  good,  bad,  or 
indifferent :   '  I  wish  he  Jd  die  and  leave  me 
some  of  his  money.' ' 

24 


THE  MAN  IN  THE  LABORATORY 

Jasper  laughed  softly. 

"  You  have  n't  a  very  good  opinion  of 
humanity." 

"  I  have  no  opinion  of  humanity/'  corrected 
his  chief,  "  and  I  am  going  to  bed." 

Jasper  heard  his  heavy  feet  upon  the  stairs 
and  the  thud  of  them  overhead.  He  waited 
for  some  time;  then  he  heard  the  bed  creak. 
He  closed  the  windows,  personally  inspected 
the  fastenings  of  the  doors,  and  went  to  his 
little  office  study  on  the  first  floor. 

He  shut  the  door,  took  out  the  pocket  case, 
and  gave  one  glance  at  the  portrait,  and  then 
took  an  unopened  letter  which  had  come  that 
evening  and  which,  by  his  deft  handling  of  the 
mail,  he  had  been  able  to  smuggle  into  his 
pocket  without  John  Minute's  observance. 

He  slit  open  the  envelope,  extracted  the 
letter,  and  read: 

DEAR  SIR  :  Your  esteemed  favor  is  to  hand.  We 
have  to  thank  you  for  the  check,  and  we  are  very 
pleased  that  we  have  given  you  satisfactory  service. 
The  search  has  been  a  very  long  and,  I  am  afraid, 
a  very  expensive  one  to  yourself,  but  now  that  dis- 

25 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

covery  has  been  made  I  trust  you  will  feel  rewarded 
for  your  energies. 

The  note  bore  no  heading,  and  was  signed 
"  J.  B.  Fleming." 

Jasper  read  it  carefully,  and  then,  striking 
a  match,  lit  the  paper  and  watched  it  burn 
in  the  grate. 


26 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   GIRL    WHO    CRIED 

northern  express  had  deposited  its 
passengers  at  King's  Cross  on  time.  All 
the  station  approaches  were  crowded  with 
hurrying  passengers.  Taxicabs  and  "  growl- 
ers "  were  mixed  in  apparently  inextricable 
confusion.  There  was  a  roaring  babble  of  in- 
struction and  counter-instruction  from  police- 
men, from  cab  drivers,  and  from  excited  por- 
ters. Some  of  the  passengers  hurried  swiftly 
across  the  broad  asphalt  space  and  disap- 
peared down  the  stairs  toward  the  under- 
ground station.  Others  waited  for  unpunctual 
friends  with  protesting  and  frequent  examina- 
tion of  their  watches. 

One  alone  seemed  wholly  bewildered  by  the 
noise  and  commotion.  She  was  a  young  girl 
not  more  than  eighteen,  and  she  struggled 

27 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

with  two  or  three  brown  paper  parcels,  a  hat- 
box,  and  a  bulky  hand-bag.  She  was  among 
those  who  expected  to  be  met  at  the  station, 
for  she  looked  helplessly  at  the  clock  and 
wandered  from  one  side  of  the  building  to 
the  other  till  at  last  she  came  to  a  standstill  in 
the  center,  put  down  all  her  parcels  carefully, 
and,  taking  a  letter  from  a  shabby  little  bag, 
opened  it  and  read. 

Evidently  she  saw  something  which  she  had 
not  noticed  before,  for  she  hastily  replaced  the 
letter  in  the  bag,  scrambled  together  her  par- 
cels, and  walked  swiftly  out  of  the  station. 
Again  she  came  to  a  halt  and  looked  round  the 
darkened  courtyard. 

"  Here ! "  snapped  a  voice  irritably.  She 
saw  a  door  of  a  taxicab  open,  and  came  toward 
it  timidly. 

"  Come  in,  come  in,  for  heaven's  sake ! " 
said  the  voice. 

She  put  in  her  parcels  and  stepped  into  the 
cab.  The  owner  of  the  voice  closed  the  door 
with  a  bang,  and  the  taxi  moved  on. 

28 


THE    GIRL   WHO    CRIED 

"  I  Ve  been  waiting  here  ten  minutes,"  said 
the  man  in  the  cab. 

"  I  'm  so  sorry,  dear,  but  I  did  n't  read  —  " 

"  Of  course  you  did  n't  read,"  interrupted 
the  other  brusquely. 

It  was  the  voice  of  a  young  man  not  in  the 
best  of  tempers,  and  the  girl,  folding  her  hands 
in  her  lap,  prepared  for  the  tirade  which  she 
knew  was  to  follow  her  act  of  omission. 

"  You  never  seem  to  be  able  to  do  anything 
right,"  said  the  man.  "  I  suppose  it  is  your 
natural  stupidity." 

'''  Why  could  n't  you  meet  me  inside  the 
station?  "  she  asked  with  some  show  of  spirit. 

"  I  Ve  told  you  a  dozen  times  that  I  don't 
want  to  be  seen  with  you,"  said  the  man  bru- 
tally. "  I  Ve  had  enough  trouble  over  you 
already.  I  wish  to  Heaven  I  'd  never  met  you." 

The  girl  could  have  echoed  that  wish,  but 
eighteen  months  of  bullying  had  cowed  and  all 
but  broken  her  spirit. 

'  You  are  a  stone  around  my  neck,"  said  the 
man  bitterly.  "  I  have  to  hide  you,  and  all 

29 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

the  time  I  'm  in  a  fret  as  to  whether  you  will 
give  me  away  or  not.  I  am  going  to  keep  you 
under  my  eye  now,"  he  said.  "  You  know  a 
little  too  much  about  me." 

"  I  should  never  say  a  word  against  you," 
protested  the  girl. 

"  I  hope,  for  your  sake,  you  don't,"  was  the 
grim  reply. 

The  conversation  slackened  from  this  mo- 
ment until  the  girl  plucked  up  courage  to  ask 
where  they  were  going. 

"Wait  and  see,"  snapped  the  man,  but 
added  later :  "  You  are  going  to  a  much  nicer 
home  than  you  have  ever  had  in  your  life,  and 
you  ought  to  be  very  thankful." 

"  Indeed  I  am,  dear,"  said  the  girl  earnestly. 

"  Don't  call  me  '  dear,' "  snarled  her  hus- 
band. 

The  cab  took  them  to  Camden  Town,  and 
they  descended  in  front  of  a  respectable-look- 
ing house  in  a  long,  dull  street.  It  was  too 
dark  for  the  girl  to  take  stock  of  her  surround- 
ings, and  she  had  scarcely  time  to  gather  her 

30 


THE    GIRL   WHO    CRIED 

parcels  together  before  the  man  opened  the 
door  and  pushed  her  in. 

The  cab  drove  off,  and  a  motor  cyclist  who 
all  the  time  had  been  following  the  taxi, 
wheeled  his  machine  slowly  from  the  corner 
of  the  street  where  he  had  waited  until  he  came 
opposite  the  house.  He  let  down  the  supports 
of  his  machine,  went  stealthily  up  the  steps, 
and  flashed  a  lamp  upon  the  enamel  numbers 
over  the  fanlight  of  the  door.  He  jotted  down 
the  figures  in  a  notebook,  descended  the  steps 
again,  and,  wheeling  his  machine  back  a  little 
way,  mounted  and  rode  off. 

Half  an  hour  later  another  cab  pulled  up  at 
the  door,  and  a  man  descended,  telling  the 
driver  to  wait.  He  mounted  the  steps,  knocked, 
and  after  a  short  delay  was  admitted. 

"  Hello,  Crawley ! "  said  the  man  who  had 
opened  the  door  to  him.  "  How  goes  it?  " 

"Rotten,"  said  the  newcomer.  "What  do 
you  want  me  for?  " 

His  was  the  voice  of  an  uncultured  man, 
but  his  tone  was  that  of  an  equal. 

31 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"What  do  you  think  I  want  you  for?" 
asked  the  other  savagely. 

He  led  the  way  to  the  sitting  room,  struck 
a  match,  and  lit  the  gas.  His  bag  was  on  the 
floor.  He  picked  it  up,  opened  it,  and  took  out 
a  flask  of  whisky  which  he  handed  to  the  other. 

"  I  thought  you  might  need  it,"  he  said 
sarcastically. 

Crawley  took  the  flask,  poured  out  a  stiff 
tot,  and  drank  it  at  a  gulp.  He  was  a  man  of 
fifty,  dark  and  dour.  His  face  was  lined  and 
tanned  as  one  who  had  lived  for  many  years 
in  a  hot  climate.  This  was  true  of  him,  for  he 
had  spent  ten  years  of  his  life  in  the  Matabe- 
leland  mounted  police. 

The  young  man  pulled  up  a  chair  to  the 
table. 

"  I  Ve  got  an  offer  to  make  to  you,"  he  said. 

"  Is  there  any  money  in  it  ?  " 

The  other  laughed. 

'  You  don't  suppose  I  should  make  any  kind 
of  offer  to  you  that  hadn't  money  in  it?  "  he 
answered  contemptuously. 

32 


THE   GIRL   WHO    CRIED 

Crawley,  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  poured 
out  another  drink  and  gulped  it  down. 

"  I  have  n't  had  a  drink  to-day,"  he  said 
apologetically. 

"  That  is  an  obvious  lie,"  said  the  younger 
man ;  "  but  now  to  get  to  business.  I  don't 
know  what  your  game  is  in  England,  but  I 
will  tell  you  what  mine  is.  I  want  a  free  hand, 
and  I  can  only  have  a  free  hand  if  you  take 
your  daughter  away  out  of  the  country." 

"  You  want  to  get  rid  of  her,  eh  ?  "  asked 
the  other,  looking  at  him  shrewdly. 

The  young  man  nodded. 

"  I  tell  you,  she 's  a  millstone  round  my 
neck,"  he  said  for  the  second  time  that  even- 
ing, "  and  I  am  scared  of  her.  At  any  mo- 
ment she  may  do  some  fool  thing  and  ruin 
me." 

Crawley  grinned. 

" '  For  better  or  for  worse,'  "  he  quoted,  and 
then,  seeing  the  ugly  look  in  the  other  man's 
face,  he  said :  "  Don't  try  to  frighten  me,  Mr. 
Brown  or  Jones,  or  whatever  you  call  your- 

33 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

self,  because  I  can't  be  frightened.  I  have 
had  to  deal  with  worse  men  than  you  and  I  'm 
still  alive.  I  '11  tell  you  right  now  that  I  'm 
not  going  out  of  England.  I  Ve  got  a  big 
game  on.  What  did  you  think  of  offering 
me?" 

"  A  thousand  pounds,"  said  the  other. 

"  I  thought  it  would  be  something  like  that," 
said  Crawley  coolly.  "  It  is  a  flea-bite  to  me. 
You  take  my  tip  and  find  another  way  of  keep- 
ing her  quiet.  A  clever  fellow  like  you,  who 
knows  more  about  dope  than  any  other  man 
I  have  met,  ought  to  be  able  to  do  the  trick 
without  any  assistance  from  me.  Why,  did  n't 
you  tell  me  that  you  knew  a  drug  that  sapped 
the  will  power  of  people  and  made  them  do  just 
as  you  like  ?  That 's  the  knockout  drop  to  give 
her.  Take  my  tip  and  try  it." 

'You  won't  accept  my  offer?"  asked  the 
other. 

Crawley  shook  his  head. 

"  I  Ve  got  a  fortune  in  my  hand  if  I  work 
my  cards  right,"  he  said.  "  I  Ve  managed  to 

34 


THE   GIRL   WHO    CRIED 

get  a  position  right  under  the  old  devil's  nose. 
I  see  him  every  day,  and  I  have  got  him  scared. 
What 's  a  thousand  pounds  to  me  ?  I  Ve  lost 
more  than  a  thousand  on  one  race  at  Lewes. 
No,  my  boy,  employ  the  resources  of  science," 
he  said  flippantly.  '  There  's  no  sense  in  being 
a  dope  merchant  if  you  can't  get  the  right  dope 
for  the  right  case." 

"  The  less  you  say  about  my  doping,  the 
better,"  snarled  the  other  man.  "  I  was  a  fool 
to  take  you  so  much  into  my  confidence." 

"  Don't  lose  your  temper,"  said  the  other, 
raising  his  hand  in  mock  alarm.  "  Lord  bless 
us,  Mr.  Wright  or  Robinson,  who  would  have 
thought  that  the  nice,  mild-mannered  young 
man  who  goes  to  church  in  Eastbourne  could 
be  such  a  fierce  chap  in  London  ?  I  Ve  often 
laughed,  seeing  you  walk  past  me  as  though 
butter  would  n't  melt  in  your  mouth  and  every- 
body saying  what  a  nice  young  man  Mr.  So- 
and-so  is,  and  I  have  thought,  if  they  only 
knew  that  this  sleek  lad  —  " 

"  Shut  up !  "  said  the  other  savagely.    "  You 

35 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

are  getting  as  much  of  a  danger  as  this  infernal 
girl." 

"  You  take  things  too  much  to  heart,"  said 
the  other.  "  Now  I  '11  tell  you  what  I  '11  do. 
I  am  not  going  out  of  England  I  am  going 
to  keep  my  present  menial  job.  You  see,  it 
is  n't  only  the  question  of  money,  but  I  have 
an  idea  that  your  old  man  has  got  something 
up  his  sleeve  for  me,  and  the  only  way  to 
prevent  unpleasant  happenings  is  to  keep  close 
to  him." 

"  I  have  told  you  a  dozen  times  he  has 
nothing  against  you,"  said  the  other  emphati- 
cally. "  I  know  his  business,  and  I  have  seen 
most  of  his  private  papers.  If  he  could  have 
caught  you  with  the  goods,  he  would  have  had 
you  long  ago.  I  told  you  that  the  last  time  you 
called  at  the  house  and  I  saw  you.  What! 
'Do  you  think  John  Minute  would  pay  black- 
mail if  he  could  get  out  of  it  ?  You  are  a  fool ! " 

"Maybe  I  am,"  said  the  other  philosophi- 
cally, "  but  I  am  not  such  a  fool  as  you  think 
me  to  be." 

36 


THE    GIRL   WHO    CRIED 

"  You  had  better  see  her,"  said  his  host 
suddenly. 

Crawley  shook  his  head. 

"  A  parent's  feelings,"  he  protested,  "  have 
a  sense  of  decency,  Reginald  or  Horace  or 
;  Hector ;  I  always  forget  your  London  name. 
No,"  he  said,  "  I  won't  accept  your  suggestion, 
but  I  have  got  a  proposition  to  make  to  you, 
and  it  concerns  a  certain  relative  of  John 
Minute  —  a  nice,  young  fellow  who  will  one 
day  secure  the  old  man's  swag." 

"  Will  he  ? "  said  the  other  between  his 
teeth. 

They  sat  for  two  hours  discussing  the  prop- 
osition, and  then  Crawley  rose  to  leave. 

"  I  leave  my  final  jar  for  the  last,"  he  said 
pleasantly.  He  had  finished  the  contents  of 
the  flask,  and  was  in  a  very  amiable  frame  of 
mind. 

'  You  are  in  some  danger,  my  young  friend, 
and  I,  your  guardian  angel,  have  discovered 
it.  You  have  a  valet  at  one  of  your  numerous 
addresses;" 

37 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"A  chauffeur,"  corrected  the  other;  "a 
Swede,  Jonsen." 

Crawley  nodded. 

"  I  thought  he  was  a  Swede." 

"Have  you  seen  him?"  asked  the  dther 
quickly. 

"  He  came  down  to  make  some  inquiries  in 
Eastbourne,"  said  Crawley,  "  and  I  happened 
to  meet  him.  One  of  those  talkative  fellows 
who  opens  his  heart  to  a  uniform.  I  stopped 
him  from  going  to  the  house,  so  I  saved  you 
a  shock  —  if  John  Minute  had  been  there,  I 


mean." 


The  other  bit  his  lips,  and  his  face  showed 
his  concern. 

"  That 's  bad,"  he  said.  "  He  has  been  very 
restless  and  rather  impertinent  lately,  and  has 
been  looking  for  another  job.  What  did  you 
tell  him?" 

"I  told  him  to  come  down  next  Wednesday," 
said  Crawley.  "  I  thought  you  'd  like  to  make 
a  few  arrangements  in  the  meantime." 

He  held  out  his  hand,  and  the  young  man, 

38 


THE   GIRL  WHO   CRIED 

who  did  not  mistake  the  gesture,  dived  into 
his  pockets  with  a  scowl  and  handed  four 
five-pound  notes  into  the  outstretched  palm. 

"  It  will  just  pay  my  taxi/'  said  Crawley 
light-heartedly. 

The  other  went  upstairs.  He  found  the  girl 
sitting  where  he  had  left  her  in  her  bedroom. 

"  Clear  out  of  here,"  he  said  roughly.  "  I 
want  the  room." 

Meekly  she  obeyed.  He  locked  the  door 
behind  her,  lifted  a  suitcase  on  to  the  bed,  and, 
opening  it,  took  out  a  small  Japanese  box. 
From  this  he  removed  a  tiny  glass  pestle  and 
mortar,  six  little  vials,  a  hypodermic  syringe, 
and  a  small  spirit  lamp.  Then  from  his  pocket 
he  took  a  cigarette  case  and  removed  two 
cigarettes  which  he  laid  carefully  on  the  dress- 
ing table.  He  was  busy  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  hour. 

As  for  the  girl,  she  spent  that  time  in  the 
cold  dining  room  huddled  up  in  a  chair,  weep- 
ing softly  to  herself. 


39 


CHAPTER   III 

FOUR   IMPORTANT    CHARACTERS 

THE  writer  pauses  here  to  say  that  the 
story  of  "  The  Man  Who  Knew  "  is  an 
unusual  one.  It  is  reconstructed  partly  from 
the  reports  of  a  certain  trial,  partly  from  the 
confidential  matter  which  has  come  into  the 
writer's  hands  from  Saul  Arthur  Mann  and 
his  extraordinary  bureau,  and  partly  from  the 
private  diary  which  May  Nuttall  put  at  the 
writer's  disposal. 

Those  practiced  readers  who  begin  this  nar- 
rative with  the  weary  conviction  that  they  are 
merely  to  see  the  workings  out  of  a  conven- 
tional record  of  crime,  of  love,  and  of  mystery 
may  be  urged  to  pursue  their  investigations 
to  the  end.  Truth  is  stranger  than  fiction,  and 
has  need  to  be,  since  most  fiction  is  founded  on 
truth.  There  is  a  strangeness  in  the  story  of 
"  The  Man  Who  Knew  "  which  brings  it  into 

40 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS 

the  category  of  veracious  history.  It  cannot 
be  said  in  truth  that  any  story  begins  at  the 
beginning  of  the  first  chapter,  since  all  stories 
began  with  the  creation  of  the  world,  but  this 
present  story  may  be  said  to  begin  when  we 
cut  into  the  lives  of  some  of  the  characters 
concerned,  upon  the  seventeenth  day  of  July, 
19—. 

There  was  a  little  group  of  people  about  the 
prostrate  figure  of  a  man  who  lay  upon  the 
sidewalk  in  Gray  Square,  Bloomsbury. 

The  hour  was  eight  o'clock  on  a  warm  sum- 
mer evening,  and  that  the  unusual  spectacle  at- 
tracted only  a  small  crowd  may  be  explained  by 
the  fact  that  Gray  Square  is  a  professional 
quarter  given  up  to  the  offices  of  lawyers,  sur- 
veyors, and  corporation  offices  which  at  eight 
o'clock  on  a  summer's  day  are  empty  of  oc- 
cupants. The  unprofessional  classes  who  in- 
habit the  shabby  streets  impinging  upon  the 
Euston  Road  do  not  include  Gray  Square  in 
their  itinerary  when  they  take  their  evening 
constitutionals  abroad,  and  even  the  loud  chil- 

4T 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

«dren  find  a  less  depressing  environment  for 
their  games. 

The  gray-faced  youth  sprawled  upon  the 
pavement  was  decently  dressed  and  was  ob- 
viously of  the  superior  servant  type. 

He  was  as  obviously  dead. 

Death,  which  beautifies  and  softens  the 
plainest,  had  failed  entirely  to  dissipate  the 
impression  of  meanness  in  the  face  of  the 
stricken  man.  The  lips  were  set  in  a  little 
sneer,  the  half-closed  eyes  were  small,  the 
clean-shaven  jaw  was  long  and  under- 
hung, the  ears  were  large  ancf  grotesquely 
prominent. 

A  constable  stood  by  the  body,  waiting  for 
the  arrival  of  the  ambulance,  answering  in 
monosyllables  the  questions  of  the  curious. 
Ten  minutes  before  the  ambulance  arrived 
there  joined  the  group  a  man  of  middle  age. 

He  wore  the  pepper-and-salt  suit  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  country  excursionist  taking  the 
day  off  in  London.  He  had  little  side  whiskers 
.and  a  heavy  brown  mustache.  His  golf  cap 

42 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS 

was  new  and  set  at  a  somewhat  rakish  angle 
on  his  head.  Across  his  waistcoat  was  a  large 
and  heavy  chain  hung  at  intervals  with  small 
silver  medals.  For  all  his  provincial  appear- 
ance his  movements  were  decisive  and  sug- 
gested authority.  He  elbowed  his  way  through 
the  little  crowd,  and  met  the  constable's  dis- 
approving stare  without  faltering. 

"  Can  I  be  of  any  help,  mate  ?  "  he  said,  and 
introduced  himself  as  Police  Constable  Wise- 
man, of  the  Sussex  constabulary. 

The  London  constable  thawed. 

'Thanks,"  he  said;  "you  can  help  me  get 
him  into  the  ambulance  when  it  comes." 

"  Fit  ?  "  asked  the  newcomer. 

The  policeman  shook  his  head. 

"  He  was  seen  to  stagger  and  fall,  and  by 
the  time  I  arrived  he  'd  snuffed  out.  Heart 
disease,  I  suppose." 

"  Ah !  "  said  Constable  Wiseman,  regarding 
the  body  with  a  proprietorial  and  professional 
eye,  and  retailed  his  own  experiences  of  similar 
tragedies,  not  without  pride,  as  though  he  had 

43 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 
to   some   extent  the   responsibility   for   their 
occurrence. 

On  the  far  side  of  the  square  a  young  man 
and  a  girl  were  walking  slowly.  A  tall,  fair, 
good-looking  youth  he  was,  who  might  have 
attracted  attention  even  in  a  crowd.  But  more 
likely  would  that  attention  have  been  focused, 
had  he  been  accompanied  by  the  girl  at  his 
side,  for  she  was  by  every  standard  beautiful. 
They  reached  the  corner  of  Tabor  Street,  and 
it  was  the  fixed  and  eager  stare  of  a  little  man 
who  stood  on  the  corner  of  the  street  and  the 
intensity  of  his  gaze  which  first  directed  their 
attention  to  the  tragedy  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  square. 

The  little  man  who  watched  was  dressed  in 
an  ill-fitting  frock  coat,  trousers  which  seemed 
too  long,  since  they  concertinaed  over  his 
boots,  and  a  glossy  silk  hat  set  at  the  back  of 
his  head. 

"  What  a  funny  old  thing ! "  said  Frank 
Merrill  under  his  breath,  and  the  girl  smiled. 

The    object    of    their    amusement    turned 
44 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS 

sharply  as  they  came  abreast  of  him.  His 
freckled,  clean-shaven  face  looked  strangely 
old,  and  the  big,  gold-rimmed  spectacles 
bridged  halfway  down  his  nose  added  to  his 
ludicrous  appearance.  He  raised  his  eyebrows 
and  surveyed  the  two  young  people. 

"  There  's  an  accident  over  there,"  he  said 
briefly  and  without  any  preliminary. 

"  Indeed,"  said  the  young  man  politely. 

"  There  have  been  several  accidents  in  Gray 
Square,"  said  the  strange  old  man  medita- 
tively. "  There  was  one  in  1875,  when  the 
corner  house  —  you  can  see  the  end  of  it  from 
here  —  collapsed  and  buried  fourteen  people, 
seven  of  whom  were  killed,  four  of  whom 
were  injured  for  life,  and  three  of  whom 
escaped  with  minor  injuries." 

He  said  this  calmly  and  apparently  without 
any  sense  that  he  was  acting  at  all  uncon- 
ventionally in  volunteering  the  information, 
and  went  on: 

"  There  was  another  accident  in  1881,  on 
the  seventeenth  of  October,  a  collision  between 

45 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

two  hansom  cabs  which  resulted  in  the  death 
of  a  driver  whose  name  was  Samuel  Green. 
He  lived  at  14  Portington  Mews,  and  had  a 
wife  and  nine  children." 

The  girl  looked  at  the  old  man  with  a  little 
apprehension,  and  Frank  Merrill  laughed. 

"  You  have  a  very  good  memory  for  this 
kind  of  thing.  Do  you  live  here  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Oh,  no ! "  The  little  man  shook  his  head 
vigorously. 

He  was  silent  for  a  moment,  and  then: 

"  I  think  we  had  better  go  over  and  see  what 
it  is  all  about,"  he  said  with  a  certain  gravity. 

His  assumption  of  leadership  was  a  little 
staggering,  and  Frank  turned  to  the  girl. 

"  Do  you  mind?  "  he  asked. 

She  shook  her  head,  and  the  three  passed 
over  the  road  to  the  little  group  just  as  the 
ambulance  came  jangling  into  the  square.  To 
Merrill's  surprise,  the  policeman  greeted  the 
little  man  respectfully,  touching  his  helmet. 

"  I  'm  afraid  nothing  can  be  done,  sir.  He 
is  —  gone." 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS 

"Oh,  yes,  he's  gone!"  said  the  other  quite 
calmly. 

He  stooped  down,  turned  back  the  man's 
coat,  and  slipped  his  hand  into  the  inside 
pocket,  but  drew  blank;  the  pocket  was  empty. 
With  an  extraordinary  rapidity  of  movement, 
he  continued  his  search,  and  to  the  astonish- 
ment of  Frank  Merrill  the  policeman  did  not 
deny  his  right.  In  the  top  left-hand  pocket  of 
the  waistcoat  he  pulled  out  a  crumpled  slip 
which  proved  to  be  a  newspaper  clipping. 

"  Ah !  "  said  the  little  man.  "  An  advertise- 
ment for  a  manservant  cut  out  of  this  morn- 
ing's Daily  Telegraph;  I  saw  it  myself.  Evi- 
dently a  manservant  who  was  on  his  way  to 
interview  a  new  employer.  You  see :  '  Call  at 
eight-thirty  at  Holborn  Viaduct  Hotel/  He 
was  taking  a  short  cut  when  his  illness  over- 
came him.  I  know  who  is  advertising  for  the 
valet,"  he  added  gratuitously ;  "  he  is  a  Mr.  T. 
Burton,  who  is  a  rubber  factor  from  Penang. 
Mr.  T.  Burton  married  the  daughter  of  the 
Reverend  George  Smith,  of  Scarborough,  in 

47 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

1889,  and  has  four  children,  one  of  whom  is 
at  Winchester.  Hum!" 

He  pursed  his  lips  and  looked  down  again  at 
the  body;  then  suddenly  he  turned  to  Frank 
Merrill. 

"  Do  you  know  this  man  ?  "  he  demanded. 

Frank  looked  at  him  in  astonishment. 

"No.    Why  do  you  ask?" 

"  You  were  looking  at  him  as  though  you 
did,"  said  the  little  man.  "  That  is  to  say,  you 
were  not  looking  at  his  face.  People  who  do 
not  look  at  other  people's  faces  under  these 
circumstances  know  them." 

"  Curiously  enough,"  said  Frank,  with  a 
little  smile,  "  there  is  some  one  here  I  know," 
and  he  caught  the  eye  of  Constable  Wiseman. 

That  ornament  of  the  Sussex  constabulary 
touched  his  cap. 

"  I  thought  I  recognized  you,  sir.  I  have 
often  seen  you  at  Weald  Lodge,"  he  said. 

Further  conversation  was  cut  short  as  they 
lifted  the  body  on  to  a  stretcher  and  put  it  into 
the  interior  of  the  ambulance.  The  little  group 

48 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS 

watched  the  white  car  disappear,  and  the 
crowd  of  idlers  began  to  melt  away. 

Constable  Wiseman  took  a  professional 
leave  of  his  comrade,  and  came  back  to  Frank 
a  little  shyly. 

"  You  are  Mr.  Minute's  nephew,  are  n't 
you,  sir?"  he  asked. 

"  Quite  right,"  said  Frank. 

"  I  used  to  see  you  at  your  uncle's  place." 

"Uncle's  name?" 

It  was  the  little  man's  pert  but  wholly  in- 
offensive inquiry.  He  seemed  to  ask  it  as  a 
matter  of  course  and  as  one  who  had  the  right 
to  be  answered  without  equivocation. 

Frank  Merrill  laughed. 

"  My  uncle  is  Mr.  John  Minute,"  he  said, 
and  added,  with  a  faint  touch  of  sarcasm: 
"  You  probably  know  him." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  the  other  readily.  "  One  of 
the  original  Rhodesian  pioneers  who  received 
a  concession  from  Lo  Bengula  and  amassed 
a  large  fortune  by  the  sale  of  gold-mining 
properties  which  proved  to  be  of  no  especial 

49 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

value.  He  was  tried  at  Salisbury  in  1897  with 
the  murder  of  two  Mashona  chiefs,  and  was 
acquitted.  He  amassed  another  fortune  in 
Johannesburg  in  the  boom  of  '97,  and  came 
to  this  country  in  1901,  settling  on  a  small 
estate  between  Polegate  and  Eastbourne.  He 
has  one  nephew,  his  heir,  Frank  Merrill,  the 
son  of  the  late  Doctor  Henry  Merrill,  who  is 
an  accountant  in  the  London  and  Western 
Counties  Bank.  He  —  " 

Frank  looked  at  him  in  undisguised  amaze- 
ment. 

'  You  know  my  uncle  ?  " 

"  Never  met  him  in  my  life,"  said  the  little 
man  brusquely.  He  took  off  his  silk  hat  with  a 
sweep. 

"  I  wish  you  good  afternoon,"  he  said,  and 
strode  rapidly  away. 

The  uniformed  policeman  turned  a  solemn 
face  upon  the  group. 

"Do  you  know  that  gentleman?"  asked 
Frank. 

The  constable  smiled. 
50 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS 

"  Oh,  yes,  sir ;  that  is  Mr.  Mann.  At  the 
yard  we  call  him  '  The  Man  Who  Knows ! ' 

"Is  he  a  detective?" 

The  constable  shook  his  head. 

"  From  what  I  understand,  sir,  he  does  a  lot 
of  work  for  the  commissioner  and  for  the 
government.  We  have  orders  never  to  inter- 
fere with  him  or  refuse  him  any  information 
that  we  can  give." 

"  The  Man  Who  Knows?  "  repeated  Frank, 
with  a  puzzled  frown.  ''  What  an  extraordi- 
nary person !  What  does  he  know  ?  "  he  asked 
suddenly. 

"  Everything,"  said  the  constable  compre- 
hensively. 

A  few  minutes  later  Frank  was  walking 
slowly  toward  Holborn. 

"You  seem  to  be  rather  depressed,"  smiled 
the  girl. 

"Confound  that  fellow!  "  said  Frank,  break- 
ing his  silence.  "  I  wonder  how  he  comes  to 
know  all  about  uncle?"  He  shrugged  his 
shoulders.  "Well,  dear,  this  is  not  a  very 

Si 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

cheery  evening  for  you.    I  did  not  bring  you 
out  to  see  accidents." 

"  Frank,"  the  girl  said  suddenly,  "  I  seem  to 
know  that  man's  face  —  the  man  who  was  on 
the  pavement,  I  mean  —  " 

She  stopped  with  a  shudder. 

"  It  seemed  a  little  familiar  to  me,"  said 
Frank  thoughtfully. 

"  Did  n't  he  pass  us  about  twenty  minutes 
ago?" 

"  He  may  have  done,"  said  Frank,  "  but  I 
have  no  particular  recollection  of  it.  My  im- 
pression of  him  goes  much  farther  back  than 
this  evening.  Now  where  could  I  have  seen 
him?" 

"  Let 's  talk  about  something  else,"  she  said 
quickly.  "  I  have  n't  a  very  long  time.  What 
am  I  to  do  about  your  uncle  ?  " 

He  laughed. 

"  I  hardly  know  what  to  suggest,"  he  said. 
"  I  am  very  fond  of  Uncle  John,  and  I  hate  to 
run  counter  to  his  wishes,  but  I  am  certainly 
not  going  to  allow  him  to  take  my  love  affairs 

52 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS 

into  his  hands.  I  wish  to  Heaven  you  had 
never  met  him !  " 

She  gave  a  little  gesture  of  despair. 

"  It  is  no  use  wishing  things  like  that,  Frank. 
You  see,  I  knew  your  uncle  before  I  knew  you. 
If  it  had  not  been  for  your  uncle  I  should  not 
have  met  you." 

'  Tell  me  what  happened,"  he  asked.  He 
looked  at  his  watch.  "  You  had  better  come 
on  to  Victoria,"  he  said,  "  or  I  shall  lose  my 
train." 

He  hailed  a  taxicab,  and  on  the  way  to  the 
station  she  told  him  of  all  that  had  happened. 

"  He  was  very  nice,  as  he  always  is,  and  he 
said  nothing  really  which  was  very  horrid 
about  you.  He  merely  said  he  did  not  want 
me  to  marry  you  because  he  did  not  think 
you  'd  make  a  suitable  husband.  He  said  that 
Jasper  had  all  the  qualities  and  most  of  the 
virtues." 

Frank  frowned. 

'*  Jasper  is  a  sleek  brute,"  he  said  viciously. 

She  laid  her  hand  on  his  arm. 

53 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  Please  be  patient,"  she  said.  "  Jasper  has 
said  nothing  whatever  to  me  and  has  never 
been  anything  but  most  polite  and  kind." 

"  I  know  that  variety  of  kindness,"  growled 
the  young  man.  "  He  is  one  of  those  sly,  soft- 
footed  sneaks  you  can  never  get  to  the  bottom 
of.  He  is  worming  his  way  into  my  uncle's 
confidence  to  an  extraordinary  extent.  Why, 
he  is  more  like  a  son  to  Uncle  John  than  a 
beastly  secretary." 

"  He  has  made  himself  necessary,"  said  the 
girl,  "  and  that  is  halfway  to  making  yourself 
wealthy." 

The  little  frown  vanished  from  Frank's 
brow,  and  he  chuckled. 

'  That  is  almost  an  epigram,"  he  said. 
"  What  did  you  tell  uncle?  " 

"  I  told  him  that  I  did  not  think  that  his 
suggestion  was  possible  and  that  I  did  not  care 
for  Mr.  Cole,  nor  he  for  me.  You  see,  Frank, 
I  owe  your  Uncle  John  so  much.  I  am  the 
daughter  of  one  of  his  best  friends,  and  since 
dear  daddy  died  Uncle  John  has  looked  after 

54 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS 

me.  He  has  given  me  my  education  —  my 
income  —  my  everything;  he  has  been  a  second 
father  to  me." 

Frank  nodded. 

"  I  recognize  all  the  difficulties,"  he  said, 
"  and  here  we  are  at  Victoria." 

She  stood  on  the  platform  and  watched  the 
train  pull  out  and  waved  her  hand  in  farewell, 
and  then  returned  to  the  pretty  flat  in  which 
John  Minute  had  installed  her.  As  she  said, 
her  life  had  been  made  very  smooth  for  her. 
There  was  no  need  for  her  to  worry  about 
money,  and  she  was  able  to  devote  her  days 
to  the  work  she  loved  best.  The  East  End 
Provident  Society,  of  which  she  was  pres- 
ident, was  wholly  financed  by  the  Rhodesian 
millionaire. 

May  had  a  natural  aptitude  for  charity 
work.  She  was  an  indefatigable  worker,  and 
there  was  no  better  known  figure  in  the  poor 
streets  adjoining  the  West  Indian  Docks  than 
Sister  Nuttall.  Frank  was  interested  in  the 
work  without  being  enthusiastic.  He  had  all 

55 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

the  man's  apprehension  of  infectious  disease 
and  of  the  inadvisability  of  a  beautiful  girl 
slumming  without  attendance,  but  the  one  visit 
he  had  made  to  the  East  End  in  her  company 
had  convinced  him  that  there  was  no  fear  as 
to  her  personal  safety. 

He  was  wont  to  grumble  that  she  was  more 
interested  in  her  work  than  she  was  in  him, 
which  was  probably  true,  because  her  develop- 
ment had  been  a  slow  one,  and  it  could  not  be 
said  that  she  was  greatly  in  love  with  anything 
in  the  world  save  her  self-imposed  mission. 

She  ate  her  frugal  dinner,  and  drove  down 
to  the  mission  headquarters  off  the  Albert 
Dock  Road.  Three  nights  a  week  were  de- 
voted by  the  mission  to  visitation  work.  Many 
women  and  girls  living  in  this  area  spend  their 
days  at  factories  in  the  neighborhood,  and  they 
have  only  the  evenings  for  the  treatment  of 
ailments  which,  in  people  better  circumstanced, 
would  produce  the  attendance  of  specialists. 
For  the  night  work  the  nurses  were  accom- 
panied by  a  volunteer  male  escort.  May  Nut- 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  CHARACTERS 

tail's  duties  carried  her  that  evening  to  Silver- 
town  and  to  a  network  of  mean  streets  to  the 
east  of  the  railway.  Her  work  began  at  dusk, 
and  was  not  ended  until  night  had  fallen  and 
the  stars  were  quivering  in  a  hot  sky. 

The  heat  was  stifling,  and  as  she  came  out 
of  the  last  foul  dwelling  she  welcomed  as  a 
relief  even  the  vitiated  air  of  the  hot  night. 
She  went  back  into  the  passageway  of  the 
house,  and  by  the  light  of  a  paraffin  lamp  made 
her  last  entry  in  the  little  diary  she  carried. 

"  That  makes  eight  we  have  seen,  Thomp- 
son," she  said  to  her  escort.  "  Is  there  any- 
body else  on  the  list?  " 

"Nobody  else  to-night,  miss,"  said  the  young 
man,  concealing  a  yawn. 

"  I  'm  afraid  it  is  not  very  interesting  for 
you,  Thompson,"  said  the  girl  sympathetically; 
"  you  have  n't  even  the  excitement  of  work. 
It  must  be  awfully  dull  standing  outside  wait- 
ing for  me." 

"  Bless  you,  miss,"  said  the  man.  "  I  don't 
mind  at  all.  If  it  is  good  enough  for  you  to 

57 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

\ 

come  into  these  streets,  it  is  good  enough  for 
me  to  go  round  with  you." 

They  stood  in  a  little  courtyard,  a  cul-de-sac 
cut  off  at  one  end  by  a  sheer  wall,  and  as  the 
girl  put  back  her  diary  into  her  little  net  bag 
a  man  came  swiftly  down  from  the  street 
entrance  of  the  court  and  passed  her.  As  he 
did  so  the  dim  light  of  the  lamp  showed  for  a 
second  his  face,  and  her  mouth  formed  an 
"  O  "  of  astonishment  She  watched  him  until 
he  disappeared  into  one  of  the  dark  doorways 
at  the  farther  end  of  the  court,  and  stood  star- 
ing at  the  door  as  though  unable  to  believe  her 
eyes. 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  pale  face 
and  the  straight  figure  of  Jasper  Cole,  John 
Minute's  secretary. 


M 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   ACCOUNTANT   AT   THE   BANK 

AY  NUTTALL  expressed  her  perplex- 
ity in  a  letter: 


DEAR  FRANK  :  Such  a  remarkable  thing  happened 
last  night.  I  was  in  Silvers  Rents  about  eleven 
o'clock,  and  had  just  finished  seeing  the  last  of  my 
patients,  when  a  man  passed  me  and  entered  one 
of  the  houses  —  it  was,  I  thought  at  the  time,  either 
the  last  or  the  last  but  one  on  the  left.  I  now  know 
that  it  was  the  last  but  one.  There  is  no  doubt  at 
all  in  my  mind  that  it  was  Mr.  Cole,  for  not  only 
did  I  see  his  face,  but  he  carried  the  snakewood  cane 
which  he  always  affects. 

I  must  confess  I  was  curious  enough  to  make 
inquiries,  and  I  found  that  he  is  a  frequent  visitor 
here,  but  nobody  quite  knows  why  he  conies.  The 
last  house  is  occupied  by  two  families,  very  un- 
interesting people,  and  the  last  house  but  one  is 
empty  save  for  a  room  which  is  apparently  the  one 
Mr.  Cole  uses.  None  of  the  people  in  the  Rents 
know  Mr.  Cole  or  have  ever  seen  him.  Apparently 
the  downstairs  room  in  the  empty  house  is  kept 
locked,  and  a  woman  who  lives  opposite  told  my 
informant,  Thompson,  whom  you  will  remember 
as  th*  <nan  who  always  goes  with  me  when  I  am 

59 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

slumming,  that  the  gentleman  sometimes  comes, 
uses  this  room,  and  that  he  always  sweeps  it  out  for 
himself.  It  cannot  be  very  well  furnished,  and 
apparently  he  never  stays  the  night  there. 

Is  n't  it  very  extraordinary  ?  Please  tell  me  what 
you  make  of  it  — 

Frank  Merrill  put  down  the  letter  and 
slowly  filled  his  pipe.  He  was  puzzled,  and 
found  no  solution  either  then  or  on  his  way  to 
the  office. 

He  was  the  accountant  of  the  Piccadilly 
branch  of  the  London  and  Western  Counties 
Bank,  and  had  very  little  time  to  give  to  out- 
side problems.  But  the  thought  of  Cole  and 
his  curious  appearance  in  a  London  slum  under 
circumstances  which,  to  say  the  least,  were 
mysterious  came  between  him  and  his  work 
more  than  once. 

He  was  entering  up  some  transactions  when 
he  was  sent  for  by  the  manager.  Frank 
Merrill,  though  he  did  not  occupy  a  partic- 
ularly imposing  post  in  the  bank,  held  never- 
theless a  very  extraordinary  position  and  one 
which  insured  for  him  more  consideration  than 

60 


THE  ACCOUNTANT  AT  THE  BANK 

the  average  official  receives  at  the  hands  of  his 
superiors.  His  uncle  was  financially  interested 
in  the  bank,  and  it  was  generally  believed  that 
Frank  had  been  sent  as  much  to  watch  his 
relative's  interests  as  to  prepare  himself  for 
the  handling  of  the  great  fortune  which  John 
Minute  would  some  day  leave  to  his  heir. 

The  manager  nodded  cheerily  as  Frank 
came  in  and  closed  the  door  behind  him. 

"  Good  morning,  Mr.  Merrill,"  said  the 
chief.  "  I  want  to  see  you  about  Mr.  Holland's 
account.  You  told  me  he  was  in  the  other  day." 

Frank  nodded. 

"  He  came  in  in  the  lunch  hour." 

"  I  wish  I  had  been  here,"  said  the  manager 
thoughtfully.  "  I  would  like  to  see  this  gentle- 
man." 

"  Is  there  anything  wrong  with  his  ac- 
count?" 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  the  manager  with  a  smile ; 
"  he  has  a  very  good  balance.  In  fact,  too  large 
a  balance  for  a  floating  account.  I  wish  you 
would  see  him  and  persuade  him  to  put  some 

61 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

of  this  money  on  deposit.  The  head  office  does 
not  like  big  floating  balances  which  may  be 
withdrawn  at  any  moment  and  which  neces- 
sitates the  keeping  here  of  a  larger  quantity  of 
cash  than  I  care  to  hold. 

"  Personally,"  he  went  on,  "  I  do  not  like 
our  method  of  doing  business  at  all.  Our  head 
office  being  in  Plymouth,  it  is  necessary,  by  the 
peculiar  rules  of  the  bank,  that  the  floating 
balances  should  be  so  covered,  and  I  confess 
that  your  uncle  is  as  great  a  sinner  as  any. 
Look  at  this?" 

He  pushed  a  check  across  the  table. 

"  Here  's  a  bearer  check  for  sixty  thousand 
pounds  which  has  just  come  in.  It  is  to  pay 
the  remainder  of  the  purchase  price  due  to 
Consolidated  Mines.  Why  they  cannot  accept 
the  ordinary  crossed  check  Heavens  knows  I  " 

Frank  looked  at  the  sprawling  signature  and 
smiled. 

'  You  see,  uncle 's  got  a  reputation  to  keep 
up,"  he  said  good-humoredly ;  "  one  is  not 
called  '  Ready-Money  Minute '  for  nothing." 

62 


THE  ACCOUNTANT  AT  THE   BANK 

The  manager  made  a  little  grimace. 

'*  That  sort  of  thing  may  be  necessary  in 
South  Africa/'  he  said,  "  but  here  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  money  world  cash  payments  are  a 
form  of  lunacy.  I  do  not  want  you  to  repeat 
this  to  your  relative." 

"  I  am  hardly  likely  to  do  that,"  said  Frank, 
"  though  I  do  think  you  ought  to  allow  some- 
thing for  uncle's  peculiar  experiences  in  the 
early  days  of  his  career." 

"  Oh,  I  make  every  allowance,"  said  the 
other ;  "  only  it  is  very  inconvenient,  but  it  was 
not  to  discuss  your  uncle's  shortcomings  that 
I  brought  you  here." 

He  pulled  out  a  pass  book  from  a  heap  in 
front  of  him. 

"'Mr.  Rex  Holland/"  he  read.  "He 
opened  his  account  while  I  was  on  my  holiday, 
you  remember." 

"  I  remember  very  well,"  said  Frank,  "  and 
he  opened  it  through  me." 

"What  sort  of  man  is  he?"  asked  the 
manager. 

63 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  I  am  afraid  I  am  no  good  at  descriptions," 
replied  Frank,  "  but  I  should  describe  him  as 
a  typical  young  man  about  town,  not  very 
brainy,  very  few  ideas  outside  of  his  own  im- 
mediate world  —  which  begins  at  Hyde  Park 
Corner  —  " 

"  And  ends  at  the  Hippodrome,"  interrupted 
the  manager. 

"  Possibly,"  said  Frank.  "  He  seemed  a 
very  sound,  capable  man  in  spite  of  a  certain 
languid  assumption  of  ignorance  as  to  finan- 
cial matters,  and  he  came  very  well  recom- 
mended. What  would  you  like  me  to  do  ?  " 

The  manager  pushed  himself  back  in  his 
chair,  thrust  his  hands  in  his  trousers'  pockets, 
and  looked  at  the  ceiling  for  inspiration. 

"  Suppose  you  go  along  and  see  him  this 
afternoon  and  ask  him  as  a  favor  to  put  some 
of  his  money  on  deposit  We  will  pay  the  usual 
interest  and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  You  can 
explain  that  he  can  get  the  money  back  when- 
ever he  wants  it  by  giving  us  thirty  days' 
notice.  Will  you  do  this  for  me  ?  " 


THE  ACCOUNTANT  AT  THE  BANK 

"  Surely/'  said  Frank  heartily.  "  I  will  see 
him  this  afternoon.  What  is  his  address?  I 
have  forgotten/' 

"  Albemarle  Chambers,  Knightsbridge,"  re- 
plied the  manager.  "  He  may  be  in  town." 

"  And  what  is  his  balance  ?  "  asked  Frank. 

"  Thirty-seven  thousand  pounds,"  said  the 
other,  "  and  as  he  is  not  buying  Consolidated 
Mines  I  do  not  see  what  need  he  has  for  the 
money,  the  more  so  since  we  can  always  give 
him  an  overdraft  on  the  security  of  his  deposit. 
Suggest  to  him  that  he  puts  thirty  thousand 
pounds  with  us  and  leaves  seven  thousand 
pounds  floating.  By  the  way,  your  uncle  is 
sending  his  secretary  here  this  afternoon  to  go 
into  the  question  of  his  own  account." 

Frank  looked  up. 

"  Cole,"  he  said  quickly,  "  is  he  coming  here? 
By  Jove!" 

He  stood  by  the  manager's  desk,  and  a  look 
of  amusement  came  into  his  eyes. 

"  I  want  to  ask  Cole  something,"  he  said 
slowly.  ''  What  time  do  you  expect  him?" 

65  ' 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  About  four  o'clock." 

"  After  the  bank  closes  ?  " 

The  manager  nodded. 

"  Uncle  has  a  weird  way  of  doing  business," 
said  Frank,  after  a  pause.  "  I  suppose  that 
means  that  I  shall  have  to  stay  on  ? " 

"  It  is  n't  necessary,"  said  Mr.  Brandon. 
"  You  see  Mr.  Cole  is  one  of  our  directors." 

Frank  checked  an  exclamation  of  surprise. 

"  How  long  has  this  been?  "  he  asked. 

"  Since  last  Monday.  I  thought  I  told  you. 
At  any  rate,  if  you  have  not  been  told  by  your 
uncle,  you  had  better  pretend  to  know  nothing 
about  it,"  said  Brandon  hastily. 

'  You  may  be  sure  I  shall  keep  my  counsel," 
said  Frank,  a  little  amused  by  the  other's 
anxiety.  '  You  have  been  very  good  to  me, 
Mr.  Brandon,  and  I  appreciate  your  kindness." 

"  Mr.  Cole  is  a  nominee  of  your  uncle,  of 

course,"  Brandon  went  on,  with  a  little  nod 

of   acknowledgment   for   the  other's   thanks. 

'  Your  uncle  makes  a  point  of  never  sitting 

on  boards  if  he  can  help  it,  and  has  never  been 

66 


THE  ACCOUNTANT  AT  THE  BANK 

represented  except  by  his  solicitor  since  he 
acquired  so  large  an  interest  in  the  bank.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  I  think  Mr.  Cole  is  coming 
here  as  much  to  examine  the  affairs  of  the 
branch  as  to  look  after  your  uncle's  account. 
Cole  is  a  very  first-class  man  of  business,  is  n't 
he?" 

Frank's  answer  was  a  grim  smile. 

"  Excellent!  "  he  said  dryly.  "  He  has  the 
scientific  mind  grafted  to  a  singular  business 
capacity." 

"You  don't  like  him?" 

:<  I  have  no  particular  reason  for  not  liking 
him,"  said  the  other.  "  Possibly  I  am  being 
constitutionally  uncharitable.  He  is  not  the 
type  of  man  I  greatly  care  for.  He  possesses 
all  the  virtues,  according  to  uncle,  spends  his 
days  and  nights  almost  slavishly  working  for 
his  employer.  Oh,  yes,  I  know  what  you  are 
going  to  say;  that  is  a  very  fine  quality  in  a 
young  man,  and  honestly  I  agree  with  you, 
only  it  does  n't  seem  natural.  I  don't  suppose 
anybody  works  as  hard  as  I  or  takes  as  much 

67 


THE   MAN   WHO  KNEW 

interest  in  his  work,  yet  I  have  no  particular 
anxiety  to  carry  it  on  after  business  hours." 

The  manager  rose. 

"  You  are  not  even  an  idle  apprentice,"  he 
said  good-humoredly.  "  You  will  see  Mr.  Rex 
Holland  for  me?" 

"  Certainly,"  said  Frank,  and  went  back  to 
his  desk  deep  in  thought. 

It  was  four  o'clock  to  the  minute  when 
Jasper  Cole  passed  through  the  one  open  door 
of  the  bank  at  which  the  porter  stood  ready 
to  close.  He  was  well,  but  neatly,  dressed,  and 
had  hooked  to  his  wrist  a  thin  snakewood  cane 
attached  to  a  crook  handle. 

He  saw  Frank  across  the  counter  and 
smiled,  displaying  two  rows  of  even,  white 
teeth. 

"  Hello,  Jasper !  "  said  Frank  easily,  extend- 
ing his  hand.  "  How  is  uncle  ?  " 

"  He  is  very  well  indeed,"  replied  the  other. 
"  Of  course  he  is  very  worried  about  things, 
but  then  I  think  he  is  always  worried  about 
something  or  other." 

68 


THE  ACCOUNTANT  AT  THE  BANK 

"  Anything  in  particular  ? "  asked  Frank 
interestedly. 

Jasper  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  You  know  him  much  better  than  I ;  you 
were  with  him  longer.  He  is  getting  so  hor- 
ribly suspicious  of  people,  and  sees  a  spy  or  an 
enemy  in  every  strange  face.  That  is  usually 
a  bad  sign,  but  I  think  he  has  been  a  little 
overwrought  lately." 

He  spoke  easily;  his  voice  was  low  and 
modulated  with  the  faintest  suggestion  of  a 
drawl,  which  was  especially  irritating  to 
Frank,  who  secretly  despised  the  Oxford  prod- 
uct, though  he  admitted  —  since  he  was  a 
very  well-balanced  and  on  the  whole  good- 
humored  young  man  —  his  dislike  was  un- 
reasonable. 

"  I  hear  you  have  come  to  audit  the  ac- 
counts," said  Frank,  leaning  on  the  counter  and 
opening  his  gold  cigarette  case. 

"  Hardly  that,"  drawled  Jasper. 

He  reached  out  his  hand  and  selected  a 
cigarette. 

69 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  I  just  want  to  sort  out  a  few  things.  By 
the  way,  your  uncle  had  a  letter  from  a  friend 
of  yours." 

"Mine?" 

"  A  Rex  Holland,"  said  the  other. 

"  He  is  hardly  a  friend  of  mine ;  in  fact,  he 
is  rather  an  infernal  nuisance,"  said  Frank. 
"  I  went  down  to  Knightsbridge  to  see  him 
to-day,  and  he  was  out.  What  has  Mr.  Hol- 
land to  say  ?  " 

"  Oh,  he  is  interested  in  some  sort  of  charity, 
and  he  is  starting  a  guinea  collection.  I  forget 
what  the  charity  was." 

''  Why  do  you  call  him  a  friend  of  mine  ?  " 
asked  Frank,  eying  the  other  keenly. 

Jasper  Cole  was  halfway  to  the  manager's 
office  and  turned. 

"  A  little  joke,"  he  said.  "  I  had  heard  you 
mention  the  gentleman.  I  have  no  other  rea- 
son for  supposing  he  was  a  friend  of  yours." 

"Oh,  by  the  way,  Cole,"  said  Frank  sud- 
denly, "  were  you  in  town  last  night  ?  " 

Jasper  Cole  shot  a  swift  glance  at  him. 
70 


THE  ACCOUNTANT  AT  THE  BANK 

"Why?" 

"  Were  you  near  Victoria  Docks  ?  " 

"What  a  question  to  ask!"  said  the  other, 
with  his  inscrutable  smile,  and,  turning  ab- 
ruptly, walked  in  to  the  waiting  Mr.  Brandon. 

Frank  finished  work  at  five-thirty  that  night 
and  left  Jasper  Cole  and  a  junior  clerk  to  the 
congenial  task  of  checking  the  securities.  At 
nine  o'clock  the  clerk  went  home,  leaving  Jasper 
alone  in  the  bank.  Mr.  Brandon,  the  manager, 
was  a  bachelor  and  occupied  a  flat  above  the 
bank  premises.  From  time  to  time  he  strode 
in,  his  big  pipe  in  the  corner  of  his  mouth. 
The  last  of  these  occasions  was  when  Jasper 
Cole  had  replaced  the  last  ledger  in  Mr. 
Minute's  private  safe. 

"  Half  past  eleven,"  said  the  manager  dis- 
approvingly, "  and  you  have  had  no  dinner." 

"  I  can  afford  to  miss  a  dinner,"  laughed  the 
other. 

"  Lucky  man,"  said  the  manager. 

Jasper  Cole  passed  out  into  the  street  and 
called  a  passing  taxi  to  the  curb. 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  Charing  Cross  Station,"  he  said. 

He  dismissed  the  cab  in  the  station  court- 
yard, and  after  a  while  walked  back  to  the 
Strand  and  hailed  another. 

"Victoria  Dock  Road,"  he  said  in  a  low 
voice. 


CHAPTER   V 
JOHN  MINUTE'S  LEGACY 

L^  ROCHEFOUCAULD  has  said  that  pru- 
dence and  love  are  inconsistent.  May  Nut- 
tall,  who  had  never  explored  the  philosophies  of 
La  Rochefoucauld,  had  nevertheless  seen  that 
quotation  in  the  birthday  book  of  an  acquaint- 
ance, and  the  saying  had  made  a  great  impres- 
sion upon  her.  She  was  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  at  which  age  girls  are  most  impressionable 
and  are  little  influenced  by  the  workings  of 
pure  reason.  They  are  prepared  to  take  their 
philosophies  ready-made,  and  not  disinclined 
to  accept  from  others  certain  rigid  standards 
by  which  they  measure  their  own  elastic  tem- 
peraments. 

Frank  Merrill  was  at  once  a  comfort  and  the 
cause  of  a  certain  half-ashamed  resentment, 
since  she  was  of  the  age  which  resents  de- 

73 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

pendence.  The  woman  who  spends  any  ap- 
preciable time  in  the  discussion  with  herself 
as  to  whether  she  does  or  does  not  love  a  man 
can  only  have  her  doubts  set  at  rest  by  the  dis- 
covery of  somebody  whom  she  loves  better. 
She  liked  Frank,  and  liked  him  well  enough 
to  accept  the  little  ring  which  marked  the  be- 
ginning of  a  new  relationship  which  was  not 
exactly  an  engagement,  yet  brought  to  her 
friendship  a  glamour  which  it  had  never  before 
possessed. 

She  liked  him  well  enough  to  want  his  love. 
She  loved  him  little  enough  to  find  the  prospect 
of  an  early  marriage  alarming.  That  she  did 
not  understand  herself  was  not  remarkable. 
Twenty-one  has  not  the  experience  by  which 
the  complexities  of  twenty-one  may  be  straight- 
ened out  and  made  visible. 

She  sat  at  breakfast,  puzzling  the  matter 
out,  and  was  a  little  disturbed  and  even  dis- 
tressed to  find,  in  contrasting  the  men,  that  of 
the  two  she  had  a  warmer  and  a  deeper  feeling 
for  Jasper  Cole.  Her  alarm  was  due  to  the 

74 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

recollection  of  one  of  Frank's  warnings,  almost 
prophetic,  it  seemed  to  her  now : 

"  That  man  has  a  fascination  which  I  would 
be  the  last  to  deny.  I  find  myself  liking  him, 
though  my  instinct  tells  me  he  is  the  worst 
enemy  I  have  in  the  world." 

If  her  attitude  toward  Frank  was  difficult 
to  define,  more  remarkable  was  her  attitude 
of  mind  toward  Jasper  Cole.  There  was  some- 
thing sinister  —  no,  that  was  not  the  word  — 
something  "  frightening  "  about  him.  He  had 
a  magnetism,  an  aura  of  personal  power,  which 
seemed  to  paralyze  the  will  of  any  who  came 
into  conflict  with  him. 

She  remembered  how  often  she  had  gone  to 
the  big  library  at  Weald  Lodge  with  the  firm 
intention  of  "  having  it  out  with  Jasper." 
Sometimes  it  was  a  question  of  domestic 
economy  into  which  he  had  obtruded  his  views 
—  when  she  was  sixteen  she  was  practically 
housekeeper  to  her  adopted  uncle  —  perhaps 
it  was  a  matter  of  carriage  arrangement.  Once 
it  had  been  much  more  serious,  for  after  she 

75 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

had  fixed  up  to  go  with  a  merry  picnic  party 
to  the  downs,  Jasper,  in  her  uncle's  absence 
and  on  his  authority,  had  firmly  but  gently  for- 
bidden her  attendance.  Was  it  an  accident 
that  Frank  Merrill  was  one  of  the  party,  and 
that  he  was  coming  down  from  London  for  an 
afternoon's  fun? 

In  this  case,  as  in  every  other,  Jasper  had 
his  way.  He  even  convinced  her  that  his  view 
was  right  and  hers  was  wrong.  He  had  pooh- 
poohed  on  this  occasion  all  suggestion  that  it 
was  the  presence  of  Frank  Merrill  which  had 
induced  him  to  exercise  the  veto  which  his 
extraordinary  position  gave  to  him.  Accord- 
ing to  his  version,  it  had  been  the  inclusion  in 
the  party  of  two  ladies  whose  names  were 
famous  in  the  theatrical  world  which  had 
raised  his  delicate  gorge. 

May  thought  of  this  particular  incident  as 
she  sat  at  breakfast,  and  with  a  feeling  of 
exasperation  she  realized  that  whenever  Jasper 
had  set  his  foot  down  he  had  never  been  short 
of  a  plausible  reason  for  opposing  her. 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

For  one  thing,  however,  she  gave  him  credit. 
Never  once  had  he  spoken  depreciatingly  of 
Frank. 

She  wondered  what  business  brought  Jasper 
to  such  an  unsavory  neighborhood  as  that  in 
which  she  had  seen  him.  She  had  all  a  woman's 
curiosity  without  a  woman's  suspicions,  and, 
strangely  enough,  she  did  not  associate  his 
presence  in  this  terrible  neighborhood  or  his 
mysterious  comings  and  goings  with  anything 
discreditable  to  himself.  She  thought  it  was  a' 
little  eccentric  in  him,  and  wondered  whether 
he,  too,  was  running  a  "  little  mission  "  of  his 
own,  but  dismissed  that  idea  since  she  had  re- 
ceived no  confirmation  of  the  theory  from  the 
people  with  whom  she  came  into  contact  in  that 
neighborhood. 

She  was  halfway  through  her  breakfast 
when  the  telephone  bell  rang,  and  she  rose  from 
the  table  and  crossed  to  the  wall.  At  the  first 
word  from  the  caller  she  recognized  him. 

"  Why,  uncle !  "  she  said.  "  Whatever  are 
you  doing  in  town  ?  " 

77 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

The  voice  of  John  Minute  bellowed  through 
the  receiver: 

"  I  Ve  an  important  engagement.  Will  you 
lunch  with  me  at  one-thirty  at  the  Savoy  ?  " 

He  scarcely  waited  for  her  to  accept  the  in- 
vitation before  he  hung  up  his  receiver. 

The  commissioner  of  police  replaced  the 
book  which  he  had  taken  from  the  shelf  at  the 
side  of  his  desk,  swung  round  in  his  chair,  and 
smiled  quizzically  at  the  perturbed  and  iras- 
cible visitor. 

The  man  who  sat  at  the  other  side  of  the 
desk  might  have  been  fifty-five.  He  was  of 
middle  height,  and  was  dressed  in  a  somewhat 
violent  check  suit,  the  fit  of  which  advertised 
the  skill  of  the  great  tailor  who  had  ably 
fashioned  so  fine  a  creation  from  so  unlovely 
a  pattern. 

He  wore  a  low  collar  which  would  have  dis- 
played a  massive  neck  but  for  the  fact  that  a 
glaring  purple  cravat  and  a  diamond  as  big  as 
a  hazelnut  directed  the  observer's  attention 

78 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

elsewhere.  The  face  was  an  unusual  one. 
Strong  to  a  point  of  coarseness,  the  bulbous 
nose,  the  thick,  irregular  lips,  the  massive  chin 
all  spoke  of  the  hard  life  which  John  Minute 
had  spent.  His  eyes  were  blue  and  cold,  his 
hair  a  thick  and  unruly  mop  of  gray.  At  a 
distance  he  conveyed  a  curious  illusion  of  re- 
finement. Nearer  at  hand,  his  pink  face  re- 
pelled one  by  its  crudities.  He  reminded  the 
commissioner  of  a  piece  of  scene  painting  that 
pleased  from  the  gallery  and  disappointed 
from  the  boxes, 

"  You  see,  Mr.  Minute,"  said  Sir  George 
suavely,  "  we  are  rather  limited  in  our  oppor- 
tunities and  in  our  powers.  Personally,  I 
should  be  most  happy  to  help  you,  not  only 
because  it  is  my  business  to  help  everybody, 
but  because  you  were  so  kind  to  my  boy  in 
South  Africa;  the  letters  of  introduction  you 
gave  to  him  were  most  helpful." 

The  commissioner's  son  had  been  on  a  hunt- 
ing trip  through  Rhodesia  and  Barotseland, 
and  a  chance  meeting  at  a  dinner  party  with 

79 


THE  MAN   WHO   KNEW 

the  Rhodesian  millionaire  had  produced  these 
letters. 

"  But,"  continued  the  official,  with  a  little 
gesture  of  despair,  "  Scotland  Yard  has  its 
limitations.  We  cannot  investigate  the  cause 
of  intangible  fears.  If  you  are  threatened  we 
can  help  you,  but  the  mere  fact  that  you  fancy 
there  is  come  sort  of  vague  danger  would  not 
justify  our  taking  any  action." 

John  Minute  hitched  about  in  his  chair. 

"What  are  the  police  for?"  he  asked  im- 
patiently. "  I  have  enemies,  Sir  George.  I 
took  a  quiet  little  place  in  the  country,  just  out- 
side Eastbourne,  to  get  away  from  London, 
and  all  sorts  of  new  people  are  prying  round 
us.  There  was  a  new  parson  called  the  other 
day  for  a  subscription  to  some  boy  scouts' 
movement  or  other.  He  has  been  hanging 
round  my  place  for  a  month,  and  lives  at  a 
cottage  near  Polegate.  Why  should  he  have 
come  to  Eastbourne  ?  " 

"On  a  holiday  trip?"  suggested  the  com- 
missioner. 

80 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

"  Bah ! "  said  John  Minute  contemptuously. 
"  There  's  some  other  reason.  I  've  had  him 
watched.  He  goes  every  day  to  visit  a  woman 
at  a  hotel  —  a  confederate.  They  're  never 
seen  in  public  together.  Then  there's  a  ped- 
dler, one  of  those  fellows  who  sell  glass  and 
repair  windows ;  nobody  knows  anything  about 
him.  He  does  n't  do  enough  business  to  keep 
a  fly  alive.  He  's  always  hanging  round  Weald 
Lodge.  Then  there  's  a  Miss  Paines,  who  says 
she  's  a  landscape  gardener,  and  wants  to  lay 
out  the  grounds  in  some  newfangled  way.  I 
sent  her  packing  about  her  business,  but  she 
has  n't  left  the  neighborhood." 

"  Have  you  reported  the  matter  to  the  local 
police?"  asked  the  commissioner. 

Minute  nodded. 

"  And  they  know  nothing  suspicious  about 
them?" 

"  Nothing!  "  said  Mr.  Minute  briefly. 

"  Then,"  said  the  other,  smiling,  "  there  is 
probably  nothing  known  against  them,  and 
they  are  quite  innocent  people  trying  to  get  a 

81 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

living.  After  all,  Mr.  Minute,  a  man  who  is 
as  rich  as  you  are  must  expect  to  attract  a 
number  of  people,  each  trying  to  secure  some 
of  your  wealth  in  a  more  or  less  legitimate 
way.  I  suspect  nothing  more  remarkable  than 
this  has  happened." 

He  leaned  back  in  his  chair,  his  hands 
clasped,  a  sudden  frown  on  his  face. 

"  I  hate  to  suggest  that  anybody  knows 
any  more  than  we,  but  as  you  are  so  worried 
I  will  put  you  in  touch  with  a  man  who  will 
probably  relieve  your  anxiety." 

Minute  looked  up. 

"  A  police  officer  ?  "  he  asked. 

Sir  George  shook  his  head. 

"  No,  this  is  a  private  detective.  He  can  do 
things  for  you  which  we  cannot.  Have  you 
ever  heard  of  Saul  Arthur  Mann?  I  see  you 
have  n't.  Saul  Arthur  Mann,"  said  the  com- 
missioner, "  has  been  a  good  friend  of  ours, 
and  possibly  in  recommending  him  to  you  I 
may  be  a  good  friend  to  both  of  you.  He  is 
'The  Man  Who  Knows.'" 

82 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

"  '  The  Man  Who  Knows/  "  repeated  Mr. 
Minute  dubiously.  "  What  does  he  know?  " 

"  I  '11  show  you,"  said  the  commissioner. 
He  went  to  the  telephone,  gave  a  number,  and 
while  he  was  waiting  for  the  call  to  be  put 
through  he  asked:  "  What  is  the  name  of  your 
boy-scout  parson  ?  " 

'  The  Reverend  Vincent  Lock,"  replied  Mr. 
Minute. 

"  I  suppose  you  don't  know  the  name  of  your 
glass  peddler?  " 

Minute  shook  his  head. 

'  They  call  him  '  Waxy  '  in  the  village,"  he 
said. 

"  And  the  lady's  name  is  Miss  Paines,  I 
think?  "  asked  the  commissioner,  jotting  down 
the  names  as  he  repeated  them.  :f  Well,  we 
shall  —  Hello !  Is  that  Saul  Arthur  Mann  ? 
This  is  Sir  George  Fuller.  Connect  me  with 
Mr.  Mann,  will  you?  " 

He  waited  a  second,  and  then  continued: 

"Is  that  you,  Mr.  Mann?  I  want  to  ask 
you  something.  Will  you  note  these  three 

83 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

names?  The  Reverend  Vincent  Lock,  a  ped- 
dling glazier  who  is  known  as  '  Waxy,'  and  a 
Miss  Paines.  Have  you  got  them?  I  wish 
you  would  let  me  know  something  about 
them." 

Mr.  Minute  rose. 

"  Perhaps  you  '11  let  me  know,  Sir  George — * 
he  began,  holding  out  his  hand. 

"  Don't  go  yet,"  replied  the  commissioner, 
waving  him  to  his  chair  again.  '  You  will 
obtain  all  the  information  you  want  in  a  few 
minutes." 

"  But  surely  he  must  make  inquiries,"  said 
the  other,  surprised. 

Sir  George  shook  his  head. 

"  The  curious  thing  about  Saul  Arthur  Mann 
is  that  he  never  has  to  make  inquiries.  That 
is  why  he  is  called  '  The  Man  Who  Knows/ 
He  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  people  in  the 
world  of  criminal  investigation,"  he  went  on. 
'  We  tried  to  induce  him  to  come  to  Scotland 
Yard.  I  am  not  so  sure  that  the  government 
would  have  paid  him  his  price.  At  any  rate, 

84 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

he  saved  me  any  embarrassment  by  refusing 
point-blank." 

The  telephone  bell  rang  at  that  moment,  and 
Sir  George  lifted  the  receiver.  He  took  a 
pencil  and  wrote  rapidly  on  his  pad,  and  when 
he  had  finished  he  said,  "  Thank  you,"  and  hung 
up  the  receiver. 

"  Here  is  your  information,  Mr.  Minute," 
he  said.  "  The  Reverend  Vincent  Lock,  curate 
in  a  very  poor  neighborhood  near  Manchester, 
interested  in  the  boy  scouts'  movement.  His 
brother,  George  Henry  Locke,  has  had  some 
domestic  trouble,  his  wife  running  away  from 
him.  She  is  now  staying  at  the  Grand  Hotel, 
Eastbourne,  and  is  visited  every  day  by  her 
brother-in-law,  who  is  endeavoring  to  induce 
her  to  return  to  her  home.  That  disposes  of 
the  reverend  gentleman  and  his  confederate. 
Miss  Paines  is  a  genuine  landscape  gardener, 
has  been  the  plaintiff  in  two  breach-of-promise 
cases,  one  of  which  came  to  the  court.  There 
is  no  doubt,"  the  commissioner  went  on  reading 
the  paper,  "  that  her  modus  operandi  is  to  get 

85 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

elderly  gentlemen  to  propose  marriage  and 
then  to  commence  her  action.  That  disposes 
of  Miss  Paines,  and  you  now  know  why  she  is 
worrying  you.  Our  friend  '  Waxy '  has  an- 
other name  —  Thomas  Cobbler  —  and  he  has 
been  three  times  convicted  of  larceny." 

The  commissioner  looked  up  with  a  grim 
little  smile. 

"  I  shall  have  something  to  say  to  our  own 
record  department  for  failing  to  trace 
'Waxy,"  he  said,  and  then  resumed  his 
reading. 

"  And  that  is  everything!  It  disposes  of  our 
three,"  he  said.  "  I  will  see  that  '  Waxy  '  does 
not  annoy  you  any  more." 

"  But  how  the  dickens  — "  began  Mr. 
Minute.  "  How  the  dickens  does  this  fellow 
find  out  in  so  short  a  time  ?  " 

The  commissioner  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  He  just  knows,"  he  said. 

He  took  leave  of  his  visitor  at  the  door. 

"  If  you  are  bothered  any  more,"  he  said, 
"  I  should  strongly  advise  you  to  go  to  Saul 

86 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

Arthur  Mann.  I  don't  know  what  your  real 
trouble  is,  and  you  haven't  told  me  exactly 
why  you  should  fear  an  attack  of  any  kind. 
You  won't  have  to  tell  Mr.  Mann,"  he  said 
with  a  little  twinkle  in  his  eye. 

"  Why  not  ? "  asked  the  other  suspiciously. 

"  Because  he  will  know,"  said  the  com- 
missioner. 

"  The  devil  he  will ! "  growled  John  Minute, 
and  stumped  down  the  broad  stairs  on  to  the 
Embankment,  a  greatly  mystified  man.  He 
would  have  gone  off  to  seek  an  interview  with 
this  strange  individual  there  and  then,  for  his 
curiosity  was  piqued  and  he  had  also  a  little 
apprehension,  one  which,  in  his  impatient  way, 
he  desired  should  be  allayed,  but  he  remem- 
bered that  he  had  asked  May  to  lunch  with 
him,  and  he  was  already  five  minutes  late. 

He  found  the  girl  in  the  broad  vestibule, 
waiting  for  him,  and  greeted  her  affectionately. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  John  Minute  that 
is  not  wholly  to  his  credit,  it  cannot  be  said 
that  he  lacked  sincerity. 

87 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

There  are  people  in  Rhodesia  who  speak  of 
him  without  love.  They  describe  him  as  the 
greatest  land  thief  that  ever  rode  a  Zeeders- 
burg  coach  from  Port  Charter  to  Salisbury  to 
register  land  that  he  had  obtained  by  trickery. 
They  tell  stories  of  those  wonderful  coach 
drives  of  his  with  relays  of  twelve  mules  wait- 
ing every  ten  miles.  They  speak  of  his  gam- 
bling propensities,  of  ten-thousand-acre  farms 
that  changed  hands  at  the  turn  of  a  card,  and 
there  are  stories  that  are  less  printable.  When 
M'Lupi,  a  little  Mashona  chief,  found  gold  in 
'92,  and  refused  to  locate  the  reef,  it  was  John 
Minute  who  staked  him  out  and  lit  a  grass  fire 
on  his  chest  until  he  spoke. 

Many  of  the  stories  are  probably  exag- 
gerated, but  all  Rhodesia  agrees  that  John 
Minute  robbed  impartially  friend  and  foe. 
The  confidant  of  Lo'Ben  and  the  Company 
alike,  he  betrayed  both,  and  on  that  terrible 
day  when  it  was  a  toss  of  a  coin  whether  the 
concession  seekers  would  be  butchered  in 
Lo'Ben's  kraal,  John  Minute  escaped  with  the 


JOHN   MINUTE'S   LEGACY 

only  available  span  of  mules  and  left  his  com- 
rades to  their  fate. 

Yet  he  had  big,  generous  traits,  and  could  on 
occasions  be  a  tender  and  a  kindly  friend.  He 
had  married  when  a  young  man,  and  had  taken 
his  wife  into  the  wilds. 

There  was  a  story  that  she  had  met  a  hand- 
some young  trader  and  had  eloped  with  him, 
that  John  Minute  had  chased  them  over  three 
hundred  miles  of  hostile  country  from  Victoria 
Falls  to  Charter,  from  Charter  to  Marandalas, 
from  Marandalas  to  Massikassi,  and  had  ar- 
rived in  Biera  so  close  upon  their  trail  that  he 
had  seen  the  ship  which  carried  them  to  the 
Cape  steaming  down  the  river. 

He  had  never  married  again.  Report  said 
that  the  woman  had  died  of  malaria.  A  more 
popular  version  of  the  story  was  that  John 
Minute  had  relentlessly  followed  his  erring 
wife  to  Pieter  Maritzburg  and  had  shot  her 
and  had  thereupon  served  seven  years  on  the 
breakwater  for  his  sin. 

About  a  man  who  is  rich,  powerful,  and 

89 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

wholly  unpopular,  hated  by  the  majority,  and 
feared  by  all,  legends  grow  as  quickly  as  toad- 
stools on  a  marshy  moor.  Some  were  half 
true,  some  wholly  apocryphal,  deliberate,  and 
malicious  inventions.  True  or  false,  John 
Minute  ignored  them  all,  denying  nothing,  ex- 
plaining nothing,  and  even  refusing  to  take 
action  against  a  Cape  Town  weekly  which 
dealt  with  his  career  in  a  spirit  of  unpardon- 
able frankness. 

There  was  only  one  person  in  the  world 
whom  he  loved  more  than  the  girl  whose  hand 
he  held  as  they  went  down  to  the  cheeriest 
restaurant  in  London. 

''  I  have  had  a  queer  interview,"  he  said  in 
his  gruff,  quick  way.  "  I  have  been  to  see  the 
police." 

"  Oh,  uncle !  "  she  said  reproachfully. 

He  jerked  his  shoulder  impatiently. 

"  My  dear,  you  don't  know,''  he  said.  "  I 
have  got  all  sorts  of  people  who  —  " 

He  stopped  short. 

"  What  was  there  remarkable  in  the  inter- 
90 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

view  ?  "  she  asked,  after  he  had  ordered  the 
lunch. 

"  Have  you  ever  heard,"  he  asked,  "  of  Saul 
Arthur  Mann?" 

"Saul  Arthur  Mann?"  she  repeated,  "I 
seem  to  know  that  name.  Mann,  Mann! 
Where  have  I  heard  it  ?  " 

''  Well,"  said  he,  with  that  fierce  and  fleeting- 
little  smile  which  rarely  lit  his  face  for  a  second, 
"if  you  don't  know  him  he  knows  you;  he 
knows  everybody." 

"  Oh,  I  remember !  He  is  '  The  Man  Who 
Knows!'" 

It  was  his  turn  to  be  astonished. 

''  Where  in  the  world  have  you  heard  of 
him?" 

Briefly  she  retailed  her  experience,  and 
when  she  came  to  describe  the  omniscient 
Mr.  Mann —  "A  crank,"  growled  Mr. 
Minute.  "  I  was  hoping  there  was  something 
in  it." 

"  Surely,  uncle,  there  must  be  something  in 
it,"  said  the  girl  seriously.  "  A  man  of  the 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

standing  of  the  chief  commissioner  would  not 
speak  about  him  as  Sir  George  did  unless  he 
had  very  excellent  reason." 

"  Tell  me  some  more  about  what  you  saw," 
he  said.  "  I  seem  to  remember  the  report  of 
the  inquest.  The  dead  man  was  unknown  and 
has  not  been  identified." 

She  described,  as  well  as  she  could  remember, 
her  meeting  with  the  knowledgable  Mr.  Mann. 
She  had  to  be  tactful  because  she  wished  to  tell 
the  story  without  betraying  the  fact  that  she 
had  been  with  Frank.  But  she  might  have 
saved  herself  the  trouble,  because  when  she  was 
halfway  through  the  narrative  he  interrupted 
her. 

"  I  gather  you  were  not  by  yourself,"  he 
grumbled.  "  Master  Frank  was  somewhere 
handy,  I  suppose  ?  " 

She  laughed. 

"  I  met  him  quite  by  accident,"  she  said 
demurely. 

"  Naturally,"  said  John  Minute. 

"  Oh,  uncle,  and  there  was  a  man  whom 
92 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

Frank  knew!  You  probably  know  him  — 
Constable  Wiseman." 

John  Minute  unfolded  his  napkin,  stirred  his 
soup,  and  grunted. 

"  Wiseman  is  a  stupid  ass/'  he  said  briefly. 
"  The  mere  fact  that  he  was  mixed  up  in  the 
affair  is  sufficient  explanation  as  to  why  the 
dead  man  remains  unknown.  I  know  Constable 
Wiseman  very  well,"  he  said.  "  He  has  sum- 
moned me  twice  —  once  for  doing  a  little  pistol- 
shooting  in  the  garden  just  as  an  object  lesson 
to  all  tramps,  and  once  —  confound  him !  — 
for  a  smoking  chimney.  Oh,  yes,  I  know  Con- 
stable Wiseman." 

Apparently  the  thought  of  Constable  Wise- 
man filled  his  mind  through  two  courses,  for 
he  did  not  speak  until  he  set  his  fish  knife  and 
fork  together  and  muttered  something  about  a 
"  silly,  meddling  jackass !  " 

He  was  very  silent  throughout  the  meal,  his 
mind  being  divided  between  two  subjects. 
Uppermost,  though  of  least  importance,  was 
the  personality  of  Saul  Arthur  Mann.  Him 

93 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

he  mentally  viewed  with  suspicion  and1  appre- 
hension. It  was  an  irritation  even  to  suggest 
that  there  might  be  secret  places  in  his  own 
life  which  could  be  flooded  with  the  light  of 
this  man's  knowledge,  and  he  resolved  to  beard 
"  The  Man  Who  Knows  "  in  his  den  that  after- 
noon and  challenge  him  by  inference  to  produce 
all  the  information  he  had  concerning  his  past. 

There  was  much  which  was  public  property. 
It  was  John  Minute's  boast  that  his  life  was  a 
book  which  might  be  read,  but  in  his  inmost 
heart  he  knew  of  one  dark  place  which  baffled 
the  outside  world.  He  brought  himself  from 
the  mental  rehearsal  of  his  interview  to  what 
was,  after  all,  the  first  and  more  important 
business. 

"May,"  he  said  suddenly,  "  have  you  thought 
any  more  about  what  I  asked  you  ?  " 

She  made  no  attempt  to  fence  with  the  ques- 
tion. 

'  You  mean  Jasper  Cole  ?  " 

He  nodded,  and  for  the  moment  she  made 
no  reply,  and  sat  with  eyes  downcast,  tracing 

94 


JOHN    MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

a  little  figure  upon  the  tablecloth  with  her 
finger  tip. 

"  The  truth  is,  uncle,"  she  said  at  last,  "  I  am 
not  keen  on  marriage  at  all  just  yet,  and  you 
are  sufficiently  acquainted  with  human  nature 
to  know  that  anything  which  savors  of  coer- 
cion will  not  make  me  predisposed  toward  Mr. 
Cole." 

"  I  suppose  the  real  truth  is,"  he  said  gruffly, 
"  that  you  are  in  love  with  Frank  ?  " 

She  laughed. 

"  That  is  just  what  the  real  truth  is  not,N 
she  said.  "  I  like  Frank  very  much.  He  is 
a  dear,  bright,  sunny  boy." 

Mr.  Minute  grunted. 

"  Oh,  yes,  he  is !  "  the  girl  went  on.  "  But 
I  am  not  in  love  with  him  —  really." 

"  I  suppose  you  are  not  influenced  by  the  fact 
that  he  is  my  —  heir,"  he  said,  and  eyed  her 
keenly. 

She  met  his  glance  steadily. 

"If  you  were  not  the  nicest  man  I  know/' 
she  smiled,  "  I  should  be  very  offended.  Of 

95 


THE   MAN   WHO  KNEW 

course,  I  don't  care  whether  Frank  is  rich  or 
poor.  You  have  provided  too  well  for  me  for 
mercenary  considerations  to  weigh  at  all 
with  me." 

John  Minute  grunted  again. 

"  I  am  quite  serious  about  Jasper." 

"  Why  are  you  so  keen  on  Jasper  ?  "  she 
asked. 

He  hesitated. 

"  I  know  him,"  he  said  shortly.  "  He  has 
proved  to  me  in  a  hundred  ways  that  he  is  a 
reliable,  decent  lad.  He  has  become  almost 
indispensable  to  me,"  he  continued  with  his 
quick  little  laugh,  "  and  that  Frank  has  never 
been.  Oh,  yes,  Frank 's  all  right  in  his  way, 
but  he  's  crazy  on  things  which  cut  no  ice  with 
me.  Too  fond  of  sports,  too  fond  of  loafing," 
he  growled. 

The  girl  laughed  again. 

"  I  can  give  you  a  little  information  on  one 
point,"  John  Minute  went  on,  "  and  it  was  to 
tell  you  this  that  I  brought  you  here  to-day. 
I  am  a  very  rich  man.  You  know  that.  I  have 

96 


JOHN   MINUTE'S    LEGACY 

made  millions  and  lost  them,  but  I  have  still 
enough  to  satisfy  my  heirs.    I  am  leaving  you 
two  hundred  thousand  pounds  in  my  will." 
v     She  looked  at  him  with  a  startled  exclama- 
tion. 

"Uncle!"  she  said. 

He  nodded. 

"  It  is  not  a  quarter  of  my  fortune,"  he  went 
on  quickly,  "  but  it  will  make  you  comfortable 
after  I  am  gone." 

He  rested  his  elbows  on  the  table  and  looked 
at  her  searchingly. 

"  You  are  an  heiress,"  he  said,  "  for,  what- 
ever you  did,  I  should  never  change  my  mind. 
Oh,  I  know  you  will  do  nothing  of  which  I 
should  disapprove,  but  there  is  the  fact.  If 
you  marry  Frank  you  would  still  get  your  two 
hundred  thousand,  though  I  should  bitterly 
regret  your  marriage.  No,  my  girl,"  he  said 
more  kindly  than  was  his  wont,  "  I  only  ask 
you  this  —  that  whatever  else  you  do,  you  will 
not  make  your  choice  until  the  next  fortnight 
has  expired." 

97 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

With  a  jerk  of  his  head,  John  Minute  sum- 
moned a  waiter  and  paid  his  bill. 

No  more  was  said  until  he  handed  her  into 
her  cab  in  the  courtyard. 

"  I  shall  be  in  town  next  week,"  he  said. 

He  watched  the  cab  disappear  in  the  stream 
of  traffic  which  flowed  along  the  Strand,  and, 
calling  another  taxi,  he  drove  to  the  address 
with  which  the  chief  commissioner  had  fur- 
nished him. 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE    MAN    WHO    KNEW 

BACKWELL  STREET,  in  the  City  of 
London,  contains  one  palatial  building 
which  at  one  time  was  the  headquarters  of  the 
South  American  Stock  Exchange,  a  superior 
bucket  shop  which  on  its  failure  had  claimed 
its  fifty  thousand  victims.  The  ornate  gold 
lettering  on  its  great  plate-glass  window  had 
long  since  been  removed,  and  the  big  brass 
plate  which  announced  to  the  passerby  that 
here  sat  the  spider  weaving  his  golden  web  for 
the  multitude  of  flies,  had  been  replaced  by  a 
modest,  oxidized  scroll  bearing  the  simple 
legend : 

SAUL  ARTHUR  MANN 

What  Mr.  Mann's  business  was  few  people 
knew.  He  kept  an  army  of  clerks.  He  had 
the  largest  collection  of  file  cabinets  possessed 
by  any  three  business  houses  in  the  City,  he 

99 


THE   MAN   WHO  KNEW 

had  an  enormous  post  bag,  and  both  he  and 
his  clerks  kept  regulation  business  hours.  His 
beginnings,  however,  were  well  known. 

He  had  been  a  stockbroker's  clerk,  with  a 
passion  for  collecting  clippings  mainly  dealing 
with  political,  geographical,  and  meteorological 
conditions  obtaining  in  those  areas  wherein 
the  great  Joint  Stock  Companies  of  the  earth 
were  engaged  in  operations.  He  had  gradually 
built  up  a  service  of  correspondence  all  over 
the  world. 

The  first  news  of  labor  trouble  on  a  gold 
field  came  to  him,  and  his  brokers  indicated 
his  view  upon  the  situation  in  that  particular 
area  by  "  bearing  "  the  stock  of  the  affected 
company. 

If  his  Liverpool  agents  suddenly  descended 
upon  the  Cotton  Exchange  and  began  buying 
May  cotton  in  enormous  quantities,  the  in- 
itiated knew  that  Saul  Arthur  Mann  had  been 
awakened  from  his  slumbers  by  a  telegram 
describing  storm  havoc  in  the  cotton  belt  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  When  a  curious 

100 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

blight  fell  upon  the  coffee  plantations  of  Cey- 
lon, a  six-hundred-word  cablegram  describing 
the  habits  and  characteristics  of  the  minute 
insect  which  caused  the  blight  reached  Saul 
Arthur  Mann  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
and  by  three  o'clock  the  price  of  coffee  had 
jumped. 

When,  on  another  occasion,  Senor  Almarez, 
the  President  of  Cacura,  had  thrown  a  glass 
of  wine  in  the  face  of  his  brother-in-law,  Cap- 
tain Vassalaro,  Saul  Arthur  Mann  had  jumped 
into  the  market  and  beaten  down  all  Cacura 
stocks,  which  were  fairly  high  as  a  result  of 
excellent  crops  and  secure  government.  He 
"  beared  "  them  because  he  knew  that  Vassa- 
laro was  a  dead  shot,  and  that  the  inevitable 
duel  would  deprive  Cacura  of  the  best  pres- 
ident it  had  had  for  twenty  years,  and  that  the 
way  would  be  open  for  the  election  of  Sebas- 
tian Romelez,  who  had  behind  him  a  certain 
group  of  German  financiers  who  desired  to 
exploit  the  country  in  their  own  peculiar 
fashion. 

101 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

He  probably  built  up  a  very  considerable  for- 
tune, and  it  is  certain  that  he  extended  the  range 
of  his  inquiries  until  the  making  of  money 
by  means  of  his  curious  information  bureau 
became  only  a  secondary  consideration.  He 
had  a  marvelous  memory,  which  was  supple- 
mented by  his  system  of  filing.  He  would  go 
to  work  patiently  for  months,  and  spend  sums 
of  money  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  value  of 
the  information,  to  discover,  for  example,  the 
reason  why  a  district  officer  in  some  far-away 
spot  in  India  had  been  obliged  to  return  to 
England  before  his  tour  of  duty  had  ended. 

His  thirst  for  facts  was  insatiable ;  his  grasp 
of  the  politics  of  every  country  in  the  world, 
and  his  extraordinarily  accurate  information 
concerning  the  personality  of  all  those  who 
directed  those  policies,  was  the  basis  upon 
which  he  was  able  to  build  up  theories  of  amaz- 
ing accuracy. 

A  man  of  simple  tastes,  who  lived  in  a  ram- 
bling old  house  in  Streatham,  his  work,  his 
hobby,  and  his  very  life  was  his  bureau.  He 

1 02 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

had  assisted  the  police  times  without  number, 
and  had  been  so  fascinated  by  the  success  of 
this  branch  of  his  investigations  that  he  had 
started  a  new  criminal  record,  which  had  been 
of  the  greatest  help  to  the  police  and  had  piqued 
Scotland  Yard  to  emulation. 

John  Minute,  descending  from  his  cab  at  the 
door,  looked  up  at  the  imposing  facia  with  a 
frown.  Entering  the  broad  vestibule,  he 
handed  his  card  to  the  waiting  attendant  and 
took  a  seat  in  a  well-furnished  waiting  room. 
Five  minutes  later  he  was  ushered  into  the  pres- 
ence of  "  The  Man  Who  Knew."  Mr.  Mann, 
a  comical  little  figure  at  a  very  large  writing 
table,  jumped  up  and  went  halfway  across  the 
big  room  to  meet  his  visitor.  He  beamed 
through  his  big  spectacles  as  he  waved  John 
Minute  to  a  deep  armchair. 

"The  chief  commissioner  sent  you,  didn't 
he?  "  he  said,  pointing  an  accusing  finger  at 
the  visitor.  "  I  know  he  did,  because  he  called 
me  up  this  morning  and  asked  me  about  three 
people  who,  I  happen  to  know,  have  been 

103 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

bothering  you.  Now  what  can  I  do  for  you, 
Mr.  Minute?" 

John  Minute  stretched  his  legs  and  thrust  his 
hands  defiantly  into  his  trousers'  pockets. 

"  You  can  tell  me  all  you  know  about  me," 
he  said. 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  trotted  back  to  his  big 
table  and  seated  himself. 

"  I  have  n't  time  to  tell  you  as  much,"  he  said 
breezily,  "  but  I  '11  give  you  a  few  outlines." 

He  pressed  a  bell  at  his  desk,  opened  a  big 
index,  and  ran  his  finger  down. 

"  Bring  me  8874,"  he  said  impressively  to 
the  clerk  who  made  his  appearance. 

To  John  Minute's  surprise,  it  was  not  a 
bulky  dossier  with  which  the  attendant  re- 
turned, but  a  neat  little  book  soberly  bound  in 
gray. 

"  Now,"  said  Mr.  Mann,  wriggling  himself 
comfortably  back  in  his  chair,  "  I  will  read  a 
few  things  to  you." 

He  held  up  the  book. 

'  There  are  no  names  in  this  book,  my  friend ; 
104 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

not  a  single,  blessed  name.  Nobody  knows 
who  8874  is  except  myself." 

He  patted  the  big  index  affectionately. 

"  The  name  is  there.  When  I  leave  this 
office  it  will  be  behind  three  depths  of  steel; 
when  I  die  it  will  be  burned  with  me." 

He  opened  the  little  book  again  and  read. 
He  read  steadily  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  in 
a  monotonous,  singsong  voice,  and  John  Min- 
ute slowly  sat  himself  erect  and  listened  with 
tense  face  and  narrow  eyelids  to  the  record. 
He  did  not  interrupt  until  the  other  had 
finished. 

"  Half  of  your  facts  are  lies,"  he  said 
harshly.  "  Some  of  them  are  just  common 
gossip;  some  are  purely  imaginary." 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  closed  the  book  and  shook 
his  head. 

"  Everything  here,"  he  said,  touching  the 
book,  "  is  true.  It  may  not  be  the  truth  as 
you  want  it  known,  but  it  is  the  truth.  If  I 
thought  there  was  a  single  fact  in  there  which 
was  not  true  my  raison  d'etre  would  be  lost. 

105 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

That  is  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth,  Mr.  Minute,"  he  went  on,  and 
the  good-natured  little  face  was  pink  with 
annoyance. 

"  Suppose  it  were  the  truth,"  interrupted 
John  Minute,  "  what  price  would  you  ask  for 
that  record  and  such  documents  as  you  say  you 
have  to  prove  its  truth  ?  " 

The  other  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and 
clasped  his  hands  meditatively. 

"  How  much  do  you  think  you  are  worth, 
Mr.  Minute?" 

'  You  ought  to  know,"  said  the  other  with  a 
sneer. 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  inclined  his  head. 

"  At  the  present  price  of  securities,  I  should 
say  about  one  million  two  hundred  and  seventy 
thousand  pounds,"  he  said,  and  John  Minute 
opened  his  eyes  in  astonishment. 

"  Near  enough,"  he  reluctantly  admitted. 

'  Well,"  the  little  man  continued,  "  if  you 
multiply  that  by  fifty  and  you  bring  all  that 
money  into  my  office  and  place  it  on  that  table 

106 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

in  ten-thousand-pound  notes,  you  could  not  buy 
that  little  book  or  the  records  which  support  it." 

He  jumped  up. 

"  I  am  afraid  I  am  keeping  you,  Mr. 
Minute." 

"  You  are  not  keeping  me,"  said  the  other 
roughly.  "  Before  I  go  I  want  to  know  what 
use  you  are  going  to  make  of  your  knowledge." 

The  little  man  spread  out  his  hands  in 
deprecation. 

"  What  use  ?  You  have  seen  the  use  to 
which  I  have  put  it.  I  have  told  you  what  no 
other  living  soul  will  know." 

"How  do  you  know  I  am  John  Minute?" 
asked  the  visitor  quickly. 

"  Some  twenty-seven  photographs  of  you  are 
included  in  the  folder  which  contains  your 
record,  Mr.  Minute,"  said  the  little  investigator 
calmly.  '  You  see,  you  are  quite  a  prominent 
personage  —  one  of  the  two  hundred  and  four 
really  rich  men  in  England.  I  am  not  likely 
to  mistake  you  for  anybody  else,  and,  more 
than  this,  your  history  is  so  interesting  a  one 

107 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

that  naturally  I  know  much  more  about  you 
than  I  should  if  you  had  lived  the  dull  and 
placid  life  of  a  city  merchant." 

"  Tell  me  one  thing  before  I  go,"  asked 
Minute.  "  Where  is  the  person  you  refer  to  as 
'X'?" 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  smiled  and  inclined  his 
head  never  so  slightly. 

''  That  is  a  question  which  you  have  no  right 
to  ask,"  he  said.  "  It  is  information  which  is 
available  to  the  police  or  to  any  authorized 
person  who  wishes  to  get  into  touch  with  '  X.' 
I  might  add,"  he  went  on,  "  that  there  is  much 
more  I  could  tell  you,  if  it  were  not  that  it 
would  involve  persons  with  whom  you  are  ac- 
quainted." 

John  Minute  left  the  bureau  looking  a  little 
older,  a  little  paler  than  when  he  had  entered. 
He  drove  to  his  club  writh  one  thought  in  his 
mind,  and  that  thought  revolved  about  the 
identity  and  the  whereabouts  of  the  person 
referred  to  in  the  little  man's  record  as  "  X." 


108 


CHAPTER   VII 

INTRODUCING    MR.    REX    HOLLAND 

TV/fR-  REX  HOLLAND  stepped  out  of  his 
J-»-*-  new  car,  and,  standing  back  a  pace, 
surveyed  his  recent  acquisition  with  a  dis- 
passionate eye. 

11 1  think  she  will  do,  Feltham,"  he  said. 

The  chauffeur  touched  his  cap  and  grinned 
broadly. 

"  She  did  it  in  thirty-eight  minutes,  sir ;  not 
bad  for  a  twenty-mile  run  —  half  of  it  through 
London." 

"  Not  bad,"  agreed  Mr.  Holland,  slowly 
stripping  his  gloves. 

The  car  was  drawn  up  at  the  entrance  to  the 
country  cottage  which  a  lavish  expenditure  of 
money  had  converted  into  a  bijou  palace. 

He  still  lingered,  and  the  chauffeur,  feeling 
that  some  encouragement  to  conversation  was 

109 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

called  for,  ventured  the  view  that  a  car  ought 
to  be  a  good  one  if  one  spent  eight  hundred 
pounds  on  it. 

"  Everything  that  is  good  costs  money,"  said 
Mr.  Rex  Holland  sententiously,  and  then  con- 
tinued :  "  Correct  me  if  I  am  mistaken,  but  as 
we  came  through  Putney  did  I  not  see  you  nod 
to  the  driver  of  another  car  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  When  I  engaged  you,"  Mr.  Holland  went 
on  in  his  even  voice,  "  you  told  me  that  you  had 
just  arrived  from  Australia  and  knew  nobody 
in  England;  I  think  my  advertisement  made  it 
clear  that  I  wanted  a  man  who  fulfilled  these 
conditions  ?  " 

"  Quite  right,  sir.  I  was  as  much  surprised 
as  you ;  the  driver  of  that  car  was  a  fellow  who 
traveled  over  to  the  old  country  on  the  same 
boat  as  me.  It 's  rather  rum  that  he  should 
have  got  the  same  kind  of  job." 

Mr.  Holland  smiled  quietly. 

"  I  hope  his  employer  is  not  as  eccentric  as  I 
and  that  he  pays  his  servant  on  my  scale." 

no 


INTRODUCING   MR.    REX   HOLLAND 

With  this  shot  he  unlocked  and  passed 
through  the  door  of  the  cottage. 

Feltham  drove  his  car  to  the  garage  which 
had  been  built  at  the  back  of  the  house,  and, 
once  free  from  observation,  lit  his  pipe,  and, 
seating  himself  on  a  box,  drew  from  his  pocket 
a  little  card  which  he  perused  with  unusual 
care. 

He  read: 

One:  To  act  as  chauffeur  and  valet.  Two:  To 
receive  ten  pounds  a  week  and  expenses.  Three: 
To  make  no  friends  or  acquaintances.  Four :  Never 
under  any  circumstances  to  discuss  my  employer, 
his  habits,  or  his  business.  Five:  Never  under  any 
circumstances  to  go  farther  eastward  into  London 
than  is  represented  by  a  line  drawn  from  the  Marble 
Arch  to  Victoria  Station.  Six :  Never  to  recognize 
my  employer  if  I  see  him  in  the  street  in  company 
with  any  other  person. 

The  chauffeur  folded  the  card  and  scratched 
his  chin  reflectively. 

"  Eccentricity,"  he  said. 

It  was  a  nice  five-syllable  word,  and  its  em- 
ployment was  a  comfort  to  this  perturbed 
Australian.  He  cleaned  his  face  and  hands, 

in 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

and  went  into  the  tiny  kitchen  to  prepare  his 
master's  dinner. 

Mr.  Holland's  house  was  a  remarkable  one. 
It  was  filled  with  every  form  of  labor-saving 
device  which  the  ingenuity  of  man  could  devise. 
The  furniture,  if  luxurious,  was  not  in  any 
great  quantity.  Vacuum  tubes  were  to  be 
found  in  every  room,  and  by  the  attachment  of 
hose  and  nozzle  and  the  pressure  of  a  switch 
each  room  could  be  dusted  in  a  few  minutes. 
From  the  kitchen,  at  the  back  of  the  cottage, 
to  the  dining  room  ran  two  endless  belts  electri- 
cally controlled,  which  presently  carried  to  the 
table  the  very  simple  meal  which  his  cook- 
chauffeur  had  prepared. 

The  remnants  of  dinner  were  cleared  away, 
the  chauffeur  dismissed  to  his  quarters,  a  little 
one-roomed  building  separated  from  the  cot- 
tage, and  the  switch  was  turned  over  which 
heated  the  automatic  coffee  percolator  which 
stood  on  the  sideboard. 

Mr.  Holland  sat  reading,  his  feet  resting  on 
a  chair. 

112 


INTRODUCING   MR.   REX   HOLLAND 

He  only  interrupted  his  study  long  enough 
to  draw  off  the  coffee  into  a  little  white  cup 
and  to  switch  off  the  current. 

He  sat  until  the  little  silver  clock  on  the 
mantelshelf  struck  twelve,  and  then  he  placed  a 
card  in  the  book  to  mark  the  place,  closed  it, 
and  rose  leisurely. 

He  slid  back  a  panel  in  the  wall,  disclosing 
the  steel  door  of  a  safe.  This  he  opened  with 
a  key  which  he  selected  from  a  bunch.  From 
the  interior  of  the  safe  he  removed  a  cedar- 
wood  box,  also  locked.  He  threw  back  the  lid 
and  removed  one  by  one  three  check  books  and 
a  pair  of  gloves  of  some  thin,  transparent 
fabric.  These  were  obviously  to  guard  against 
tell-tale  finger  prints. 

He  carefully  pulled  them  on  and  buttoned 
them.  Next  he  detached  three  checks,  one 
from  each  book,  and,  taking  a  fountain  pen 
from  his  pocket,  he  began  filling  in  the  blank 
spaces.  He  wrote  slowly,  almost  laboriously, 
and  he  wrote  without  a  copy.  There  are  very 
few  forgers  in  the  criminal  records  who  have 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

ever  accomplished  the  feat  of  imitating  a  man's 
signature  from  memory.  Mr.  Rex  Holland 
was  singularly  exceptional  to  all  precedent,  for 
from  the  date  to  the  flourishing  signature  these 
checks  might  have  been  written  and  signed  by 
John  Minute. 

There  were  the  same  fantastic  "  E's,"  the 
same  stiff-tailed  "  Y's."  Even  John  Minute 
might  have  been  in  doubt  whether  he  wrote 
the  "  Eight  hundred  and  fifty  "  which  appeared 
on  one  slip. 

Mr.  Holland  surveyed  his  handiwork  with- 
out emotion. 

He  waited  for  the  ink  to  dry  before  he  folded 
the  checks  and  put  them  in  his  pocket.  This 
was  John  Minute's  way,  for  the  millionaire 
never  used  blotting  paper  for  some  reason, 
probably  not  unconnected  with  an  event  in  his 
earlier  career.  When  the  checks  were  in  his 
pocket,  Mr.  Holland  removed  his  gloves,  re- 
placed them  with  the  check  books  in  the  box 
and  in  the  safe,  locked  the  steel  door,  drew 
the  sliding  panel,  and  went  to  bed. 

114 


INTRODUCING   MR.   REX   HOLLAND 

Early  the  next  morning  he  summoned  his 
servant 

"  Take  the  car  back  to  town,"  he  said.  "  I 
am  going  back  by  train.  Meet  me  at  the  Hol- 
land Park  tube  at  two  o'clock;  I  have  a  little 
job  for  you  which  will  earn  you  five  hundred." 

'  That 's  my  job,  sir,"  said  the  dazed  man 
when  he  recovered  from  the  shock. 

Frank  sometimes  accompanied  May  to  the 
East  End,  and  on  the  day  Mr.  Rex  Holland 
returned  to  London  he  called  for  the  girl  at 
her  flat  to  drive  her  to  Canning  Town. 

'  You  can  come  in  and  have  some  tea,"  she 
invited. 

'  You  're  a  luxurious  beggar,  May,"  he  said, 
glancing  round  approvingly  at  the  prettily  fur- 
nished sitting  room.  "  Contrast  this  with  my 
humble  abode  in  Bayswater." 

"  I  don't  know  your  humble  abode  in  Bays- 
water,"  she  laughed.  "  But  why  on  earth  you 
should  elect  to  live  at  Bayswater  I  can't 
imagine." 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

He  sipped  his  tea  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye. 

"  Guess  what  income  the  heir  of  the  Minute 
millions  enjoys?"  he  asked  ironically.  "No, 
I  '11  save  you  the  agony  of  guessing.  I  earn 
seven  pounds  a  week  at  the  bank,  and  that  is 
the  whole  of  my  income." 

"  But  does  n't  uncle  —  "  she  began  in  sur- 
prise. 

"  Not  a  bob,"  replied  Frank  vulgarly;  "  not 
half  a  bob." 

"But  —  " 

"  I  know  what  you  Jre  going  to  say ;  he 
treats  you  generously.  I  know.  He  treats  me 
justly.  Between  generosity  and  justice,  give 
me  generosity  all  the  time.  I  will  tell  you 
something  else.  He  pays  Jasper  Cole  a  thou- 
sand a  year !  It 's  very  curious,  is  n't  it  ?  " 

She  leaned  over  and  patted  his  arm. 

"  Poor  boy,"  she  said  sympathetically,  "  that 
does  n't  make  it  any  easier  —  Jasper,  I  mean." 

Frank  indulged  in  a  little  grimace,  and  said : 

"  By  the  way,  I  saw  the  mysterious  Jasper 
this  morning  —  coming  out  of  the  Waterloo 

116 


INTRODUCING   MR.    REX   HOLLAND 

Station  looking  more  mysterious  than  ever. 
What  particular  business  has  he  in  the 
country  ?  " 

She  shook  her  head  and  rose. 

"  I  know  as  little  about  Jasper  as  you,"  she 
answered. 

She  turned  and  looked  at  him  thoughtfully. 

"  Frank,"  she  said,  "  I  am  rather  worried 
about  you  and  Jasper.  I  am  worried  because 
your  uncle  does  not  seem  to  take  the  same  view 
of  Jasper  as  you  take.  It  is  not  a  very  heroic 
position  for  either  of  you,  and  it  is  rather  hate- 
ful for  me." 

Frank  looked  at  her  with  a  quizzical  smile. 

"Why  hateful  for  you?" 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  I  would  like  to  tell  you  everything,  but 
that  would  not  be  fair." 

"  To  whom  ?  "  Frank  asked  quickly. 

"  To  you,  your  uncle,  or  to  Jasper." 

He  came  nearer  to  her. 

"  Have  you  so  warm  a  feeling  for  Jasper  ?  " 
he  asked. 

117. 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

"  I  have  no  warm  feeling  for  anybody,"  she 
said  candidly.  "  Oh,  don't  look  so  glum,  Frank! 
I  suppose  I  am  slow  to  develop,  but  you  cannot 
expect  me  to  have  any  very  decided  views  yet 
a  while." 

Frank  smiled  ruefully. 

"  That  is  my  one  big  trouble,  dear,"  he  said 
quietly;  "bigger  than  anything  else  in  the 
world." 

She  stood  with  her  hand  on  the  door,  hesi- 
tating, a  look  of  perplexity  upon  her  beautiful 
face.  She  was  of  the  tall,  slender  type,  a  girl 
slowly  ripening  into  womanhood.  She  might 
have  been  described  as  cold  and  a  little  repres- 
sive, but  the  truth  was  that  she  was  as  yet  un- 
touched by  the  fires  of  passion,  and  for  all  her 
twenty-one  years  she  was  still  something  of 
the  healthy  schoolgirl,  with  a  schoolgirl's  im- 
patience of  sentiment. 

"  I  am  the  last  to  spin  a  hard-luck  yarn," 
Frank  went  on,  "  but  I  have  not  had  the  best 
of  everything,  dear.  I  started  wrong  with 
uncle.  He  never  liked  my  father  nor  any  of 

1x8 


INTRODUCING   MR.    REX   HOLLAND 

my  father's  family.  His  treatment  of  his  wife 
was  infamous.  My  poor  governor  was  one  of 
those  easy-going  fellows  who  was  always  in 
trouble,  and  it  was  always  John  Minute's  job 
to  get  him  out.  I  don't  like  talking  about 
him  —  "  He  hesitated. 

She  nodded. 

"  I  know,"  she  said  sympathetically. 

"  Father  was  not  the  rotter  that  Uncle  John 
thinks  he  was.  He  had  his  good  points.  He 
was  careless,  and  he  drank  much  more  than 
was  good  for  him,  but  all  the  scrapes  he  fell 
into  were  due  to  this  latter  failing." 

The  girl  knew  the  story  of  Doctor  Merrill. 
It  had  been  sketched  briefly  but  vividly  by 
John  Minute.  She  knew  also  some  of  those 
scrapes  which  had  involved  Doctor  Merrill's 
ruin,  material  and  moral. 

"  Frank,"  she  said,  "  if  I  can  help  you  in  any 
way  I  would  do  it." 

'  You  can  help  me  absolutely,"  said  the 
young  man  quietly,  "  by  marrying  me." 

She  gasped. 

119 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

"When?"  she  asked,  startled. 

"  Now,  next  week ;  at  any  rate,  soon."  He 
smiled,  and,  crossing  to  her,  caught  her  hand 
in  his. 

"  May,  dear,  you  know  I  love  you.  You 
know  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  I  would  not 
do  for  you,  no  sacrifice  that  I  would  not  make." 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  You  must  give  me  some  time  to  think  about 
this,  Frank,"  she  said. 

"  Don't  go,"  he  begged.  "  You  cannot  know 
how  urgent  is  my  need  of  you.  Uncle  John  has 
told  you  a  great  deal  about  me,  but  has  he  told 
you  this  —  that  my  only  hope  of  independence 
—  independence  of  his  millions  and  his  in- 
fluence —  you  cannot  know  how  widespread  or 
pernicious  that  influence  is,"  he  said,  with  an 
unaccustomed  passion  in  his  voice,  "  lies  in  my 
marriage  before  my  twenty- fourth  birthday  ?  " 

"Frank!" 

"  It  is  true.  I  cannot  tell  you  any  more,  but 
John  Minute  knows.  If  I  am  married  within 
the  next  ten  days  "  —  he  snapped  his  fingers  — 

1 20 


INTRODUCING   MR.   REX   HOLLAND 

"  that  for  his  millions.    I  am  independent  of  his 
legacies,  independent  of  his  patronage." 

She  stared  at  him,  open-eyed. 

"  You  never  told  me  this  before." 

He  shook  his  head  a  little  despairingly. 

'  There  are  some  things  I  can  never  tell  you, 
May,  and  some  things  which  you  can  never 
know  till  we  are  married.  I  only  ask  you  to 
trust  me." 

"  But  suppose,"  she  faltered,  "  you  are  not 
married  within  ten  days,  what  will  happen  ?  " 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

'  I  am  John's  liege  man  of  life  and  limb  and 
of  earthly  regard/  "  he  quoted  flippantly.  "  I 
shall  wait  hopefully  for  the  only  release  that 
can  come,  the  release  which  his  death  will 
bring.  I  hate  saying  that,  for  there  is  some- 
thing about  him  that  I  like  enormously,  but 
that  is  the  truth,  and,  May,"  he  said,^  still  hold- 
ing her  hand  and  looking  earnestly  into  her 
face,  "  I  don't  want  to  feel  like  that  about  John 
Minute.  I  don't  want  to  look  forward  to  his 
end.  I  want  to  meet  him  without  any  sense 

121 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

of  dependence.  I  don't  want  to  be  looking  all 
the  time  for  signs  of  decay  and  decrepitude, 
and  hail  each  illness  he  may  have  with  a  feeling 
of  pleasant  anticipation.  It  is  beastly  of  me 
to  talk  like  this,  I  know,  but  if  you  were  in  my 
position  —  if  you  knew  all  that  I  know  —  you 
would  understand." 

The  girl's  mind  was  in  a  ferment.  An 
ordinary  meeting  had  developed  so  tumultu- 
ously  that  she  had  lost  her  command  of  the 
situation.  A  hundred  thoughts  ran  riot 
through  her  mind.  She  felt  as  though  she 
were  an  arbitrator  deciding  between  two  men, 
of  both  of  whom  she  was  fond,  and,  even  at 
that  moment,  there  intruded  into  her  mental 
vision  a  picture  of  Jasper  Cole,  with  his  pale, 
intellectual  face  and  his  grave,  dark  eyes. 

"  I  must  think  about  this,"  she  said  again. 
"  I  don't  think  you  had  better  come  down  to  the 
mission  with  me." 

He  nodded. 

"  Perhaps  you  're  right,"  he  said. 

Gently  she  released  her  hand  and  left  him. 
122 


INTRODUCING   MR.   REX   HOLLAND 

For  her  that  day  was  one  of  supreme  mental 
perturbation.  What  was  the  extraordinary 
reason  which  compelled  his  marriage  by  his 
twenty-fourth  birthday?  She  remembered 
how  John  Minute  had  insisted  that  her  thoughts 
about  marriage  should  be  at  least  postponed 
for  the  next  fortnight.  Why  had  John  Minute 
suddenly  sprung  this  story  of  her  legacy  upon 
her?  For  the  first  time  in  her  life  she  began 
to  regard  her  uncle  with  suspicion. 

For  Frank  the  day  did  not  develop  without 
its  sensations.  The  Piccadilly  branch  of  the 
London  and  Western  Counties  Bank  occupies 
commodious  premises,  but  Frank  had  never 
been  granted  the  use  of  a  private  office.  His 
big  desk  was  in  a  corner  remote  from  the 
counter,  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  a  screen 
which  was  half  glass  and  half  teak  paneling. 
From  where  he  sat  he  could  secure  a  view  of 
the  counter,  a  necessary  provision,  since  he  was 
occasionally  called  upon  to  identify  the  bearers 
of  checks. 

He  returned  a  little  before  three  o'clock  in 
123 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

the  afternoon,  and  Mr.  Brandon,  the  manager, 
came  hurriedly  from  his  little  sanctum  at  the 
rear  of  the  premises  and  beckoned  Frank  into 
his  office. 

"  You  've  taken  an  awful  long  time  for 
lunch,"  he  complained. 

"  I  'm  sorry,"  said  Frank.  "  I  met  Miss 
Nuttall,  and  the  time  flew." 

"  Did  you  see  Holland  the  other  day  ?  "  the 
manager  interrupted. 

"  I  did  n't  see  him  on  the  day  you  sent  me," 
replied  Frank,  "  but  I  saw  him  on  the  following 
day." 

"  Is  he  a  friend  of  your  uncle's  ?  " 

"  I  don't  think  so.    Why  do  you  ask?  " 

The  manager  took  up  three  checks  which  lay 
on  the  table,  and  Frank  examined  them.  One 
was  for  eight  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  six 
shillings,  and  was  drawn  upon  the  Liverpool 
Cotton  Bank,  one  was  for  forty-one  thousand 
one  hundred  and  forty  pounds,  and  was  drawn 
upon  the  Bank  of  England,  and  the  other  was 
for  seven  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 

124 


INTRODUCING   MR.   REX   HOLLAND 

nine  pounds  fourteen  shillings.  They  were  all 
signed  "  John  Minute/'  and  they  were  all  made 
payable  to  "  Rex  Holland,  esquire,"  and  were 
crossed. 

Now  John  Minute  had  a  very  curious  prac- 
tice of  splitting  up  payments  so  that  they 
covered  the  three  banking  houses  at  which  his 
money  was  deposited.  The  check  for  seven 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  pounds 
fourteen  shillings  was  drawn  upon  the  London 
and  Western  Counties  Bank,  and  that  would 
have  afforded  the  manager  some  clew  even  if 
he  had  not  been  well  acquainted  with  John 
Minute's  eccentricity. 

"  Seven  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  pounds  fourteen  shillings  from  Mr. 
Minute's  balance,"  said  the  manager,  "  leaves 
exactly  fifty  thousand  pounds." 

Mr.  Brandon  shook  his  head  in  despair  at 
the  unbusinesslike  methods  of  his  patron. 

"  Does  he  know  your  uncle  ?  " 

"Who?" 

"  Rex  Holland." 

125 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Frank  frowned  in  an  effort  of  memory. 

"  I  don't  remember  my  uncle  ever  speaking 
of  him,  and  yet,  now  I  come  to  think  of  it,  one 
of  the  first  checks  he  put  into  the  bank  was  on 
my  uncle's  account.  Yes,  now  I  remember," 
he  exclaimed.  "  He  opened  the  account  on  a 
letter  of  introduction  which  was  signed  by  Mr. 
Minute.  I  thought  at  the  time  that  they  had 
probably  had  business  dealings  together,  and  as 
uncle  never  encourages  the  discussion  of  bank 
affairs  outside  of  the  bank,  I  have  never 
mentioned  it  to  him." 

Again  Mr.  Brandon  shook  his  head  in  doubt. 

"  I  must  say,  Mr.  Merrill,"  he  said,  "  I  don't 
like  these  mysterious  depositors.  What  is  he 
like  in  appearance?" 

"  Rather  a  tall,  youngish  man,  exquisitely 
dressed." 

"  Clean  shaven?  " 

"  No,  he  has  a  closely  trimmed  black  beard, 
though  he  cannot  be  much  more  than  twenty- 
eight.  In  fact,  when  I  saw  him  for  the  first 
time  the  face  was  familiar  to  me  and  I  had  an 

126 


INTRODUCING   MR.    REX   HOLLAND 

impression  of  having  seen  him  before.  I  think 
he  was  wearing  a  gold-rimmed  eyeglass  when 
he  came  on  the  first  occasion,  but  I  have  never 
met  him  in  the  street,  and  he  hardly  moves  in 
my  humble  social  circle."  Frank  smiled. 

"  I  suppose  it  is  all  right,"  said  the  manager 
dubiously;  "but,  anyway,  I'll  see  him  to- 
morrow. As  a  precautionary  measure  we 
might  get  in  touch  with  your  uncle,  though  I 
know  he  '11  raise  Cain  if  we  bother  him  about 
his  account." 

(<  He  will  certainly  raise  Cain  if  you  get  in 
touch  with  him  to-day,"  smiled  Frank,  "  for 
he  is  due  to  leave  by  the  two-twenty  this  after- 
noon for  Paris." 

It  wanted  five  minutes  to  the  hour  at  which 
the  bank  closed  when  a  clerk  came  through  the 
swing  door  and  laid  a  letter  upon  the  counter 
which  was  taken  in  to  Mr.  Brandon,  who  came 
into  the  office  immediately  and  crossed  to 
where  Frank  sat. 

"  Look  at  this,"  he  said. 


127 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Frank  took  the  letter  and  read  it.  It  was 
addressed  to  the  manager,  and  ran : 

DEAR  SIR:  I  am  leaving  for  Paris  tonight  to 
join  my  partner,  Mr.  Minute.  I  shall  be  very  glad, 
therefore,  if  you  will  arrange  to  cash  the  inclosed 
check.  Yours  faithfully, 

REX  A.  HOLLAND. 

The  "  inclosed  check "  was  for  fifty-five 
thousand  pounds  and  was  within  five  thousand 
pounds  of  the  amount  standing  to  Mr.  Hol- 
land's account  in  the  bank.  There  was  a  post- 
script to  the  letter: 

You  will  accept  this,  my  receipt,  for  the  sum,  and 
hand  it  to  my  messenger,  Sergeant  George  Graylin, 
of  the  corps  of  commissionaires,  and  this  form  of 
receipt  will  serve  to  indemnify  you  against  loss  in 
the  event  of  mishap. 

The  manager  walked  to  the  counter. 

"  Who  gave  you  this  letter  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Mr.  Holland,  sir,"  said  the  man. 

"Where  is  Mr.  Holland?"  asked  Frank. 

The  sergeant  shook  his  head. 

"  At  his  flat.  My  instructions  were  to  take 
this  letter  to  the  bank  and  bring  back  the 
money." 

128 


INTRODUCING   MR.    REX   HOLLAND 

The  manager  was  in  a  quandary.  It  was  a 
regular  transaction,  and  it  was  by  no  means 
unusual  to  pay  out  money  in  this  way.  It  was 
only  the  largeness  of  the  sum  which  made  him 
hesitate.  He  disappeared  into  his  office  and 
came  back  with  two  bundles  of  notes  which  he 
had  taken  from  the  safe.  He  counted  them 
over,  placed  them  in  a  sealed  envelope,  and  re- 
ceived from  the  sergeant  his  receipt. 

When  the  man  had  gone  Brandon  wiped  his 
forehead. 

"  Phew !  "  he  said.  "  I  don't  like  this  way  of 
doing  business  very  much,  and  I  should  be  very 
glad  indeed  to  be  transferred  back  to  the  head 
office." 

The  words  were  hardly  out  of  his  mouth 
when  a  bell  rang  violently.  The  front  doors 
of  the  bank  had  been  closed  with  the  departure 
of  the  commissioner,  and  one  of  the  junior 
clerks,  balancing  up  his  day  book,  dropped  his 
pen,  and,  at  a  sign  from  his  chief,  walking  to 
the  door,  pulled  back  the  bolts  and  admitted  — - 
John  Minute. 

129 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Frank  stared  at  him  in  astonishment. 

"  Hello,  uncle,"  he  said.  "  I  wish  you  had 
come  a  few  minutes  before.  I  thought  you 
were  in  Paris." 

"  The  wire  calling  me  to  Paris  was  a  fake," 
growled  John  Minute.  :t  I  wired  for  confirma- 
tion, and  discovered  my  Paris  people  had  not 
sent  me  any  message.  I  only  got  the  wire  just 
before  the  train  started.  I  have  been  spending 
all  the  afternoon  getting  on  to  the  phone  to 
Paris  to  untangle  the  muddle.  Why  did  you 
wish  I  was  here  five  minutes  before?" 

"  Because,"  said  Frank,  "  we  have  just  paid 
out  fifty-five  thousand  pounds  to  your  friend, 
Mr.  Holland." 

"  My  friend  ?  "  John  Minute  stared  from 
the  manager  to  Frank  and  from  Frank  to  the 
manager,  who  suddenly  experienced  a  sinking 
feeling  which  accompanies  disaster. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  '  my  friend  '  ?  " 
asked  John  Minute.  "  I  have  never  heard  of 
the  man  before." 

"  Did  n't  you  give  Mr.  Holland  checks 
130 


INTRODUCING   MR.    REX   HOLLAND 

amounting  to  fifty-five  thousand  pounds  this 
morning?"  gasped  the  manager,  turning  sud- 
denly pale. 

"  Certainly  not ! "  roared  John  Minute. 
"  Why  the  devil  should  I  give  him  checks  ? 
I  have  never  heard  of  the  man." 

The  manager  grasped  the  counter  for  sup- 
port. 

He  explained  the  situation  in  a  few  halting 
words,  and  led  the  way  to  his  office,  Frank 
accompanying  him. 

John  Minute  examined  the  checks. 

'  That  is  my  writing,"  he  said.  "  I  could 
swear  to  it  myself,  and  yet  I  never  wrote  those 
checks  or  signed  them.  Did  you  note  the  com- 
missionaire's number?" 

"  As  it  happens  I  jotted  it  down,"  said 
Frank. 

By  this  time  the  manager  was  on  the  phone 
to  the  police.  At  seven  o'clock  that  night  the 
commissionaire  was  discovered.  He  had  been 
employed,  he  said,  by  a  Mr.  Holland,  whom  he 
described  as  a  slimmish  man,  clean  shaven, 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

and  by  no  means  answering  to  the  description 
which  Frank  had  given. 

"  I  have  lived  for  a  long  time  in  Australia," 
said  the  commissionaire,  "  and  he  spoke  like 
an  Australian.  In  fact,  when  I  mentioned 
certain  places  I  had  been  to  he  told  me  he  knew 
them." 

The  police  further  discovered  that  the 
Knightsbridge  flat  had  been  taken,  furnished, 
three  months  before  by  Mr.  Rex  Holland,  the 
negotiations  having  been  by  letter.  Mr.  Hol- 
land's agent  had  assumed  responsibility  for 
the  flat,  and  Mr.  Holland's  agent  was  easily 
discoverable  in  a  clerk  in  the  employment 
of  a  well-known  firm  of  surveyors  and  auc- 
tioneers, who  had  also  received  his  commis- 
sion by  letter. 

When  the  police  searched  the  flat  they  found 
only  one  thing  which  helped  them  in  their  in- 
vestigations. The  hall  porter  said  that,  as 
often  as  not,  the  flat  was  untenanted,  and  only 
occasionally,  when  he  was  off  duty,  had  Mr. 
Holland  put  in  an  appearance,  and  he  only 

132 


INTRODUCING   MR.   REX   HOLLAND 

knew  this  from  statements  which  had  been 
made  by  other  tenants. 

"  It  comes  to  this,"  said  John  Minute  grimly ; 
"  that  nobody  has  seen  Mr.  Holland  but  you, 
Frank." 

Frank  stiffened. 

"  I  am  not  suggesting  that  you  are  in  the 
swindle,"  said  Minute  gruffly.  "  As  likely  as 
not,  the  man  you  saw  was  not  Mr.  Holland, 
and  it  is  probably  the  work  of  a  gang,  but  I  am 
going  to  find  out  who  this  man  is,  if  I  have  to 
spend  twice  as  much  as  I  have  lost." 

The  police  were  not  encouraging. 

Detective  Inspector  Nash,  from  Scotland 
Yard,  who  had  handled  some  of  the  biggest 
cases  of  bank  swindles,  held  out  no  hope  of  the 
money  being  recovered. 

"  In  theory  you  can  get  back  the  notes  if 
you  have  their  numbers,"  he  said,  "  but  in 
practice  it  is  almost  impossible  to  recover  them, 
because  it  is  quite  easy  to  change  even  notes 
for  five  hundred  pounds,  and  probably  you  will 
find  these  in  circulation  in  a  week  or  two." 

133 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

His  speculation  proved  to  be  correct,  for  on 
the  third  day  after  the  crime  three  of  the  miss- 
ing notes  made  a  curious  appearance. 

"  Ready-Money  Minute,"  true  to  his  nick- 
name, was  in  the  habit  of  balancing  his  accounts 
as  between  bank  and  bank  by  cash  payments. 
He  had  made  it  a  practice  for  all  his  dividends 
to  be  paid  in  actual  cash,  and  these  were  sent  to 
the  Piccadilly  branch  of  the  London  and  West- 
ern Counties  Bank  in  bulk.  After  a  payment 
of  a  very  large  sum  on  account  of  certain 
dividends  accruing  from  his  South  African 
investments,  three  of  the  missing  notes  were 
discovered  in  the  bank  itself. 

John  Minute,  apprised  by  telegram  of  the 
fact,  said  nothing ;  for  the  money  had  been  paid 
in  by  his  confidential  secretary,  Jasper  Cole, 
and  there  was  excellent  reason  why  he  did  not 
desire  to  emphasize  the  fact. 


134 


CHAPTER   VIII 

SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

n  HHE  big  library  of  Weald  Lodge  was  bril- 
-*-  liantly  lighted  and  nobody  had  pulled 
down  the  blinds.  So  that  it  was  possible  for 
any  man  who  troubled  to  jump  the  low  stone 
wall  which  ran  by  the  road  and  push  a  way 
through  the  damp  shrubbery  to  see  all  that  was 
happening  in  the  room. 

Weald  Lodge  stands  between  Eastbourne 
and  Wilmington,  and  in  the  winter  months 
the  curious,  represented  by  youthful  holiday 
makers,  are  few  and  far  between.  Constable 
Wiseman,  of  the  Eastbourne  constabulary,  cer- 
tainly was  not  curious.  He  paced  his  slow, 
moist  way  and  merely  noted,  in  passing,  the 
fact  that  the  flood  of  light  reflected  on  the 
little  patch  of  lawn  at  the  side  of  the  house. 

The  hour  was  nine  o'clock  on  a  June  even- 
ing, and  officially  it  was  only  the  hour  of  sunset, 

135 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

though  lowering  rain  clouds  had  so  darkened 
the  world  that  night  had  closed  down  upon  the 
weald,  had  blotted  out  its  pleasant  villages  and 
had  hidden  the  green  downs. 

He  continued  to  the  end  of  his  beat  and  met 
his  impatient  superior. 

"  Everything  's  all  right,  sergeant,"  he  re- 
ported; "only  old  Minute's  lights  are  blazing 
away  and  his  windows  are  open." 

"  Better  go  and  warn  him,"  said  the  ser- 
geant, pulling  his  bicycle  into  position  for 
mounting. 

He  had  his  foot  on  the  treadle,  but  hesi- 
tated. 

"  I  'd  warn  him  myself,  but  I  don't  think 
he  'd  be  glad  to  see  me." 

He  grinned  to  himself,  then  remarked: 
"  Something  queer  about  Minute  —  eh  ?  " 

"  There  is,  indeed,"  agreed  Constable  Wise- 
man heartily.  His  beat  was  a  lonely  one,  and 
he  was  a  very  bored  man.  If  by  agreement 
with  his  officer  he  could  induce  that  loquacious 
gentleman  to  talk  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  so 

136 


SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

much  dull  time  might  be  passed.  The  fact  that 
Sergeant  Smith  was  loquacious  indicated,  too, 
that  he  had  been  drinking  and  was  ready  to 
quarrel  with  anybody. 

"  Come  under  the  shelter  of  that  wall,"  said 
the  sergeant,  and  pushed  his  machine  to  the 
protection  afforded  by  the  side  wall  of  a  house. 

It  is  possible  that  the  sergeant  was  anxious 
to  impress  upon  his  subordinate's  mind  a  point 
of  view  which  might  be  useful  to  himself  one 
day. 

"  Minute  is  a  dangerous  old  man,"  he  said. 

"  Don't  I  know  it  ?  "  said  Constable  Wise- 
man, with  the  recollection  of  sundry  "  report- 
ings  "  and  inquiries. 

'  You  Ve  got  to  remember  that,  Wiseman," 
the  sergeant  went  on ;  "  and  by  '  dangerous  '  I 
mean  that  he 's  the  sort  of  old  fellow  that 
would  ask  a  constable  to  come  in  to  have  a 
drink  and  then  report  him." 

"  Good  Lord !  "  said  the  shocked  Mr.  Wise- 
man at  this  revelation  of  the  blackest  treachery. 

Sergeant  Smith  nodded. 
137 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  That 's  the  sort  of  man  he  is,"  he  said. 
"  I  knew  him  years  ago  —  at  least,  I  Ve  seen 
him.  I  was  in  Matabeleland  with  him,  and  I 
tell  you  there  's  nothing  too  mean  for  '  Ready- 
Money  Minute'  —  curse  him!" 

"  I  '11  bet  you  have  had  a  terrible  life,  ser- 
geant," encouraged  Constable  Wiseman. 

The  other  laughed  bitterly. 

"  I  have,"  he  said. 

Sergeant  Smith's  acquaintance  with  East- 
bourne was  a  short  one.  He  had  only  been 
four  years  in  the  town,  and  had,  so  rumor  ran, 
owed  his  promotion  to  influence.  What  that 
influence  was  none  could  say.  It  had  been  sug- 
gested that  John  Minute  himself  had  secured 
him  his  sergeant's  stripes,  but  that  was  a 
theory  which  was  pooh-poohed  by  people  who 
knew  that  the  sergeant  had  little  that  was  good 
to  say  of  his  supposed  patron. 

Constable  Wiseman,  a  profound  thinker  and 
a  secret  reader  of  sensational  detective  stories, 
had  at  one  time  made  a  report  against  John 
Minute  for  some  technical  offense,  and  had 

138 


SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

made  it  in  fear  and  trembling,  expecting  his 
sergeant  promptly  to  squash  this  attempt  to 
persecute  his  patron;  but,  to  his  surprise  and 
delight,  Sergeant  Smith  had  furthered  his  ef- 
forts and  had  helped  to  secure  the  conviction 
which  involved  a  fine. 

"  You  go  on  and  finish  your  beat,  Constable," 
said  the  sergeant  suddenly,  "  and  I  '11  ride  up 
to  the  old  devil's  house  and  see  what 's  doing." 

He  mounted  his  bicycle  and  trundled  up  the 
hill,  dismounting  before  Weald  Lodge,  and 
propped  his  bicycle  against  the  wall.  He 
looked  for  a  long  time  toward  the  open  French 
windows,  and  then,  jumping  the  wall,  made  his 
way  slowly  across  the  lawn,  avoiding  the  gravel 
path  which  would  betray  his  presence.  He  got 
to  a  point  opposite  the  window  which  com- 
manded a  full  view  of  the  room. 

Though  the  window  was  open,  there  was  a 
fire  in  the  grate.  To  the  sergeant's  satis- 
faction, John  Minute  was  alone.  He  sat  in  a 
deep  armchair  in  his  favorite  attitude,  his 
hands  pushed  into  his  pockets,  his  head  upon 

139 


THE   MAN   WHO  KNEW 

his  chest.  He  heard  the  sergeant's  foot  upon 
the  gravel  and  stood  up  as  the  rain-drenched 
figure  appeared  at  the  open  window. 

"  Oh,  it  is  you,  is  it?  "  growled  John  Minute. 
"  What  do  you  want?  " 

"  Alone  ?  "  said  the  sergeant,  and  he  spoke 
as  one  to  his  equal. 

"Come  in!" 

Mr.  Minute's  library  had  been  furnished  by 
the  Artistic  Furniture  Company,  of  East- 
bourne, which  had  branches  at  Hastings,  Bex- 
hill,  Brighton,  and  —  it  was  claimed  —  at 
London.  The  furniture  was  of  dark  oak, 
busily  carved.  There  was  a  large  bookcase 
which  half  covered  one  wall.  This  was  the 
"  library,"  and  it  was  filled  with  books  of  uni- 
form binding  which  occupied  the  shelves.  The 
books  had  been  supplied  by  a  great  bookseller 
of  London,  and  included  —  at  Mr.  Minute's 
suggestion  — "  The  Hundred  Best  Books," 
"  Books  That  Have  Helped  Me,"  "  The  En- 
cyclopedia Brillonica,"  and  twenty  bound  vol- 
umes of  a  certain  weekly  periodical  of  inter- 

140 


SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

national    reputation.      John   Minute   had   no 
literary  leanings. 

The  sergeant  hesitated,  wiped  his  heavy 
boots  on  the  sodden  mat  outside  the  window, 
and  walked  into  the  room. 

"  You  are  pretty  cozy,  John,"  he  said. 

"  What  do  you  want?  "  asked  Minute,  with- 
out enthusiasm. 

"  I  thought  I  'd  look  you  up.  My  constable 
reported  your  windows  were  open,  and  I  felt 
it  my  duty  to  come  along  and  warn  you  —  there 
are  thieves  about,  John." 

"  I  know  of  one,"  said  John  Minute,  looking 
at  the  other  steadily.  '  Your  constable,  as 
you  call  him,  is,  I  presume,  that  thick-headed 
jackass,  Wiseman !  " 

"  Got  him  first  time,"  said  the  sergeant,  re- 
moving his  waterproof  cape.  "  I  don't  often 
trouble  you,  but  somehow  I  had  a  feeling  I  'd 
like  to  see  you  to-night.  My  constable  revived 
old  memories,  John." 

"  Unpleasant  for  you,  I  hope,"  said  John 
Minute  ungraciously. 

141 


THE    MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  There  's  a  nice  little  gold  farm  four  hun- 
dred miles  north  of  Gwelo,"  said  Sergeant 
Smith  meditatively. 

"  And  a  nice  little  breakwater  half  a  mile 
south  of  Cape  Town,"  said  John  Minute, 
"  where  the  Cape  government  keeps  highway- 
men who  hold  up  the  Salisbury  coach  and  rob 
the  mails." 

Sergeant  Smith  smiled. 

'  You  will  have  your  little  joke,"  he  said ; 
"  but  I  might  remind  you  that  they  have  plenty 
of  accommodation  on  the  breakwater,  John. 
They  even  take  care  of  men  who  have  stolen 
land  and  murdered  natives." 

"  What  do  you  want?  "  asked  John  Minute 
again. 

The  other  grinned. 

'  Just  a  pleasant  little  friendly  visit,"  he  ex- 
plained. "  I  have  n't  looked  you  up  for  twelve 
months.  It  is  a  hard  life,  this  police  work, 
even  when  you  have  got  two  or  three  pounds 
a  week  from  a  private  source  to  add  to  your 
pay.  It  is  nothing  like  the  work  we  have  in 

142 


SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

the  Matabele  mounted  police,  eh,  John?  But, 
Lord,"  he  said,  looking  into  the  fire  thought- 
fully, "  when  I  think  how  I  stood  up  in  the 
attorney's  office  at  Salisbury  and  took  my 
solemn  oath  that  old  John  Gedding  had  trans- 
ferred his  Saibuch  gold  claims  to  you  on  his 
death  bed ;  when  I  think  of  the  amount  of  per- 
jury —  me  a  uniformed  servant  of  the  British 
South  African  Company,  and,  so  to  speak,  an 
official  of  the  law  —  I  blush  for  myself." 

"  Do  you  ever  blush  for  yourself  when  you 
think  of  how  you  and  your  pals  held  up  Hoff- 
man's store,  shot  Hoffman,  and  took  his 
swag?  "  asked  John  Minute.  "  I  'd  give  a  lot 
of  money  to  see  you  blush,  Crawley ;  and  now, 
for  about  the  fourteenth  time,  what  do  you 
want?  If  it  is  money,  you  can't  have  it.  If 
it  is  more  promotion,  you  are  not  fit  to  have 
it.  If  it  is  a  word  of  advice  —  " 

The  other  stopped  him  with  a  motion  of  his 
hand. 

"  I  can't  afford  to  have  your  advice,  John," 
he  said.  "  All  I  know  is  that  you  promised  me 

143 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

my  fair  share  over  those  Saibach  claims.  It 
is  a  paying  mine  now.  They  tell  me  that  its 
capital  is  two  millions." 

"  You  were  well  paid,"  said  John  Minute 
shortly. 

"  Five  hundred  pounds  is  n't  much  for  the 
surrender  of  your  soul's  salvation,"  said  Ser- 
geant Smith. 

He  slowly  replaced  his  cape  on  his  broad 
shoulders  and  walked  to  the  window. 

"  Listen  here,  John  Minute !  "  All  the  good 
nature  had  gone  out  of  his  voice,  and  it  was 
Trooper  Henry  Crawley,  the  lawbreaker,  who 
spoke.  "  You  are  not  going  to  satisfy  me  much 
longer  with  a  few  pounds  a  week.  You  have 
got  to  do  the  right  thing  by  me,  or  I  am  going 
to  blow." 

"  Let  me  know  when  your  blowing  starts," 
said  John  Minute,  "  and  I  '11  send  you  a  bowl 
of  soup  to  cool." 

"  You  're  funny,  but  you  don't  amuse  me," 
were  the  last  words  of  the  sergeant  as  he 
walked  into  the  rain. 

144 


SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

As  before,  he  avoided  the  drive  and  jumped 
over  the  low  wall  on  to  the  road,  and  was  glad 
that  he  had  done  so,  for  a  motor  car  swung 
into  the  drive  and  pulled  up  before  the  dark 
doorway  of  the  house.  He  was  over  the  wall 
again  in  an  instant,  and  crossing  with  swift, 
noiseless  steps  in  the  direction  of  the  car.  He 
got  as  close  as  he  could  and  listened. 

Two  of  the  voices  he  recognized.  The  third, 
that  of  a  man,  was  a  stranger.  He  heard  this 
third  person  called  "  inspector/'  and  wondered 
who  was  the  guest.  His  curiosity  was  not  to 
be  satisfied,  for  by  the  time  he  had  reached 
the  view  place  on  the  lawn  which  overlooked 
the  library  John  Minute  had  closed  the  win- 
dows and  pulled  down  the  blinds. 

The  visitors  to  Weald  Lodge  were  three  — 
Jasper  Cole,  May  Nuttall,  and  a  stout,  middle- 
aged  man  of  slow  speech  but  of  authoritative 
tone.  This  was  Inspector  Nash,  of  Scotland 
Yard,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  investigations 
into  the  forgeries.  Minute  received  them  in 
the  library.  He  knew  the  inspector  of  old. 

145 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Jasper  had  brought  May  down  in  response 
to  the  telegraphed  instructions  which  John 
Minute  had  sent  him. 

"  What 's  the  news  ?  "  he  asked. 

"Well,  I  think  I  have  found  your  Mr. 
Holland,"  said  the  inspector. 

He  took  a  fat  case  from  his  inside  pocket, 
opened  it,  and  extracted  a  snapshot  photo- 
graph. It  represented  a  big  motor  car,  and, 
standing  by  its  bonnet,  a  little  man  in  chauf- 
feur's uniform. 

"  This  is  the  fellow  who  called  himself  '  Rex 
Holland '  and  who  sent  the  commissionaire  on 
his  errand.  The  photograph  came  into  my 
possession  as  the  result  of  an  accident.  It  was 
discovered  in  the  flat  and  had  evidently  fallen 
out  of  the  man's  pocket.  I  made  inquiries  and 
found  that  it  was  taken  by  a  small  photog- 
rapher in  Putney,  and  that  the  man  had  called 
for  the  photographs  about  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  same  day  that  he  sent  the  com- 
missionaire on  his  errand.  He  was  probably 
examining  them  during  the  period  of  his  wait- 

146 


SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

ing  in  the  flat,  and  one  of  them  slipped  to  the 
ground.  At  any  rate,  the  commissionaire  has 
no  doubt  that  this  was  the  man." 

"  Do  you  seriously  suggest  that  this  fellow 
is  Rex  Holland?" 

The  inspector  shook  his  head. 

"  I  think  he  is  merely  one  of  the  gang,"  he 
said.  "  I  don't  believe  you  will  ever  find  Rex 
Holland,  for  each  of  the  gang  took  the  name 
in  turn  to  take  the  part,  according  to  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  they  found  themselves. 
I  have  been  unable  to  identify  him,  except  that 
he  went  by  the  name  of  Feltham  and  was  an 
Australian.  That  was  the  name  he  gave  to 
the  photographer  with  whom  he  talked.  You 
see,  the  photograph  was  taken  in  High  Street, 
Putney.  The  only  clew  we  have  is  that  he  has 
been  seen  several  times  on  the  Portsmouth 
Road,  driving  one  or  two  cars  in  which  was  a 
man  who  is  probably  the  nearest  approach  to 
Rex  Holland  we  shall  get. 

"  I  put  my  men  on  to  make  further  investiga- 
tions, and  the  Haslemere  police  told  them  that 

147 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

it  is  believed  that  the  car  was  the  property  of 
a  gentleman  who  lived  in  a  lockup  cottage  some 
distance  from  Haslemere  —  evidently  rather 
a  swagger  affair,  because  its  owner  had  an 
electric  cable  and  telephone  wires  laid  in,  and 
the  cottage  was  altered  and  renovated  twelve 
months  ago  at  a  very  considerable  cost.  I  shall 
be  able  to  tell  you  more  about  that  to-morrow." 

They  spent  the  rest  of  the  evening  discussing 
the  crime,  and  the  girl  was  a  silent  listener. 
It  was  not  until  very  late  that  John  Minute  was 
able  to  give  her  his  undivided  attention. 

"  I  asked  you  to  come  down,"  he  said,  "  be- 
cause I  am  getting  a  little  worried  about  you." 

'  Worried  about  me,  uncle  ?  "  she  said,  in 
surprise. 

He  nodded. 

The  two  men  had  gone  off  to  Jasper's  study, 
and  she  was  alone  with  her  uncle. 

"  When  I  lunched  with  you  the  other  day  at 
the  Savoy,"  he  said,  "  I  spoke  to  you  about 
your  marriage,  and  I  asked  you  to  defer  any 
action  for  a  fortnight." 

148 


SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

She  nodded. 

"  I  was  coming  down  to  see  you  on  that  very 
matter,"  she  said.  "  Uncle,  won't  you  tell  me 
why  you  want  me  to  delay  my  marriage  for  a 
fortnight,  and  why  you  think  I  am  going  to 
get  married  at  all  ?  " 

He  did  not  answer  immediately,  but  paced 
up  and  down  the  room. 

"  May,"  he  said,  "  you  have  heard  a  great 
deal  about  me  which  is  not  very  flattering.  I 
lived  a  very  rough  life  in  South  Africa,  and 
I  only  had  one  friend  in  the  world  in  whom  I 
had  the  slightest  confidence.  That  friend  was 
your  father.  He  stood  by  me  in  my  bad  times. 
He  never  worried  me  when  I  was  flush  of 
money,  never  denied  me  when  I  was  broke. 
Whenever  he  helped  me,  he  was  content  with 
what  reward  I  offered  him.  There  was  no 
'  fifty-fifty '  with  Bill  Nuttall.  He  was  a  man 
who  had  no  ambition,  no  avarice  —  the  whitest 
man  I  have  ever  met.  What  I  have  not  told 
you  about  him  is  this:  He  and  I  were  equal 
partners  in  a  mine,  the  Gwelo  Deep.  He  had 

149 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

great  faith  in  the  mine,  and  I  had  none  at  all. 
I  knew  it  to  be  one  of  those  properties  you 
sometimes  get  in  Rhodesia,  all  pocket  and  out- 
crop. Anyway,  we  floated  a  company." 

He  stopped  and  chuckled  as  at  an  amusing 
memory. 

'  The  pound  shares  were  worth  a  little  less 
than  sixpence  until  a  fortnight  ago." 

He  looked  at  her  with  one  of  those  swift, 
penetrating  glances,  as  though  he  were  anxious 
to  discover  her  thoughts. 

"  A  fortnight  ago,"  he  said,  "  I  learned  from 
my  agent  in  Bulawayo  that  a  reef  had  been 
struck  on  an  adjoining  mine,  and  that  the  reef 
runs  through  our  property.  If  that  is  true, 
you  will  be  a  rich  woman  in  your  own  right, 
apart  from  the  money  you  get  from  me.  I 
cannot  tell  whether  it  is  true  until  I  have  heard 
from  the  engineers,  who  are  now  examining 
the  property,  and  I  cannot  know  that  for  a 
fortnight.  May,  you  are  a  dear  girl,"  he  said, 
and  laid  his  hand  on  her  arm,  "  and  I  have 
looked  after  you  as  though  you  were  my  own 

150 


SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

daughter.  It  is  a  happiness  to  me  to  know 
that  you  will  be  a  very  rich  woman,  because 
your  father's  shares  was  the  only  property  you 
inherited  from  him.  There  is,  however,  one 
curious  thing  about  it  that  I  cannot  under- 
stand." 

He  walked  over  to  the  bureau,  unlocked  a 
drawer,  and  took  out  a  letter. 

"  My  agent  says  that  he  advised  me  two 
years  ago  that  this  reef  existed,  and  wondered 
why  I  had  never  given  him  authority  to  bore.  I 
have  no  recollection  of  his  ever  having  told  me 
anything  of  the  sort.  Now  you  know  the  posi- 
tion," he  said,  putting  back  the  letter  and 
closing  the  drawer  with  a  bang. 

'  You  want  me  to  wait  for  a  better  match," 
said  the  girl. 

He  inclined  his  head. 

"  I  don't  want  you  to  get  married  for  a  fort- 
night," he  repeated. 

May  Nuttall  went  to  bed  that  night  full  of 
doubt  and  more  than  a  little  unhappy.  The 
story  that  John  Minute  told  about  her  father 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

—  was  it  true  ?  Was  it  a  story  invented  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment  to  counter  Frank's  plan? 
She  thought  of  Frank  and  his  almost  solemn 
entreaty.  There  had  been  no  mistaking  his 
earnestness  or  his  sincerity.  If  he  would  only 
take  her  into  his  confidence  —  and  yet  she 
recognized  and  was  surprised  at  the  revelation 
that  she  did  not  want  that  confidence.  She 
wanted  to  help  Frank  very  badly,  and  it  was 
not  the  romance  of  the  situation  which  ap- 
pealed to  her.  There  was  a  large  sense  of 
duty,  something  of  that  mother  sense  which 
every  woman  possesses,  which  tempted  her  to 
the  sacrifice.  Yet  was  it  a  sacrifice? 

She  debated  that  question  half  the  night, 
tossing  from  side  to  side.  She  could  not  sleep, 
and,  rising  before  the  dawn,  slipped  into  her 
dressing  gown  and  went  to  the  window.  The 
rain  had  ceased,  the  clouds  had  broken  and 
stood  in  black  bars  against  the  silver  light  of 
dawn.  She  felt  unaccountably  hungry,  and 
after  a  second's  hesitation  she  opened  the  door 
and  went  down  the  broad  stairs  to  the  hall. 

152 


SERGEANT    SMITH    CALLS 

To  reach  the  kitchen  she  had  to  pass  her 
uncle's  door,  and  she  noticed  that  it  was  ajar. 
She  thought  possibly  he  had  gone  to  bed  and 
left  the  light  on,  and  her  hand  was  on  the  knob 
to  investigate  when  she  heard  a  voice  and 
drew  back  hurriedly.  It  was  the  voice  of 
Jasper  Cole. 

"  I  have  been  into  the  books  very  carefully 
with  Mackensen,  the  accountant,  and  there 
seems  no  doubt,"  he  said. 

"  You  think  —  "  demanded  her  uncle. 

"  I  am  certain,"  answered  Jasper,  in  his 
even,  passionless  tone.  "  The  fraud  has  been 
worked  by  Frank.  He  had  access  to  the  books. 
He  was  the  only  person  who  saw  Rex  Holland ; 
he  was  the  only  official  at  the  bank  who  could 
possibly  falsify  the  entries  and  at  the  same  time 
hide  his  trail." 

The  girl  turned  cold  and  for  a  moment 
swayed  as  though  she  would  faint.  She 
clutched  the  jamb  of  the  door  for  support  and 
waited. 

''  I  am  half  inclined  to  your  belief,"  said 
153 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

John  Minute  slowly.  "  It  is  awful  to  believe 
that  Frank  is  a  forger,  as  his  father  was  — 
awful!" 

"  It  is  pretty  ghastly,"  said  Jasper's  voice, 
"  but  it  is  true." 

The  girl  flung  open  the  door  and  stood  in 
the  doorway. 

"It  is  a  lie!"  she  cried  wrathfully.  "A 
horrible  lie  —  and  you  know  it  is  a  lie,  Jasper !  " 

Without  another  word,  she  turned,  slam- 
ming the  door  behind  her. 


154 


CHAPTER   IX 

FRANK    MERRILL   AT   THE   ALTAR 

T^RANK  MERRILL  stepped  through  the 
-*-  swing  doors  of  the  London  and  Western 
Counties  Bank  with  a  light  heart  and  a  smile 
in  his  eyes,  and  went  straight  to  his  chief's 
office. 

"  I  shall  want  you  to  let  me  go  out  this  after- 
noon for  an  hour,"  he  said. 

Brandon  looked  up  wearily.  He  had  not 
been  without  his  sleepless  moments,  and  the 
strain  of  the  forgery  and  the  audit  which  fol- 
lowed was  telling  heavily  upon  him.  He 
nodded  a  silent  agreement,  and  Frank  went 
back  to  his  desk,  humming  a  tune. 

He  had  every  reason  to  be  happy,  for  in  his 
pocket  was  the  special  license  which,  for  a  con- 
sideration, had  been  granted  to  him,  and  which 
empowered  him  to  marry  the  girl  whose  amaz- 
ing telegram  had  arrived  that  morning  while 

155 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

he  was  at  breakfast.     It  had  contained  only 
four  words: 

Marry  you  to-day.    MAY. 

He  could  not  guess  what  extraordinary  cir- 
cumstances had  induced  her  to  take  so  definite 
a  view,  but  he  was  a  very  contented  and  happy 
young  man. 

She  was  to  arrive  in  London  soon  after 
twelve,  and  he  had  arranged  to  meet  her  at  the 
station  and  take  her  to  lunch.  Perhaps  then 
she  would  explain  the  reason  for  her  action. 
He  numbered  among  his  acquaintances  the 
rector  of  a  suburban  church,  who  had  agreed 
to  perform  the  ceremony  and  to  provide  the 
necessary  witnesses. 

It  was  a  beaming  young  man  that  met  the 
girl,  but  the  smile  left  his  face  when  he  saw 
how  wan  and  haggard  she  was. 

'*  Take  me  somewhere,"  she  said  quickly. 

"  Are  you  ill?  "  he  asked  anxiously. 

She  shook  her  head. 

They  had  the  Pall  Mall  Restaurant  to  them- 
156 


FRANK  MERRILL  AT  THE  ALTAR 

selves,  for  it  was  too  early  for  the  regular 
lunchers. 

"  Now  tell  me,  dear,"  he  said,  catching  her 
hands  over  the  table,  "  to  what  do  I  owe  this 
wonderful  decision?" 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,  Frank,"  she  said  breath- 
lessly. "  I  don't  want  to  think  about  it.  All 
I  know  is  that  people  have  been  beastly  about 
you.  I  am  going  to  do  all  I  possibly  can  to 
make  up  for  it." 

She  was  a  little  hysterical  and  very  much 
overwrought,  and  he  decided  not  to  press  the 
question,  though  her  words  puzzled  him. 

'  Where  are  you  going  to  stay? "  he  asked. 

"  I  am  staying  at  the  Savoy,"  she  replied. 
"What  am  I  to  do?" 

In  as  few  words  as  possible  he  told  her 
where  the  ceremony  was  to  be  performed,  and 
the  hour  at  which  she  must  leave  the  hotel. 

'  We  will  take  the  night  train  for  the  Con- 
tinent," he  said. 

"  But  your  work,  Frank?  " 

He  laughed. 

157 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  Oh,  blow  work!  "  he  cried  hilariously.  "  I 
cannot  think  of  work  to-day." 

At  two-fifteen  he  was  waiting  in  the  vestry 
for  the  girl's  arrival,  chatting  with  his  friend 
the  rector.  He  had  arranged  for  the  ceremony 
to  be  performed  at  two-thirty;  and  the  wit- 
nesses, a  glum  verger  and  a  woman  engaged 
in  cleaning  the  church,  sat  in  the  pews  of  the 
empty  building,  waiting  to  earn  the  guinea 
which  they  had  been  promised. 

The  conversation  was  about  nothing  in  par- 
ticular—  one  of  those  empty,  purposeless  ex- 
changes of  banal  thought  and  speech  charac- 
teristic of  such  an  occasion. 

At  two-thirty  Frank  looked  at  his  watch  and 
walked  out  of  the  church  to  the  end  of  the  road. 
There  was  no  sign  of  the  girl.  At  two-forty- 
five  he  crossed  to  a  providential  tobacconist 
and  telephoned  to  the  Savoy  and  was  told  that 
the  lady  had  left  half  an  hour  before. 

"  She  ought  to  be  here  very  soon,"  he  said 
to  the  priest.  He  was  a  little  impatient,  a  little 
nervous,  and  terribly  anxious. 

158 


FRANK  MERRILL  AT  THE  ALTAR 

As  the  church  clock  struck  three,  the  rector 
turned  to  him. 

"  I  am  afraid  I  cannot  marry  you  to-day, 
Mr.  Merrill,"  he  said. 

Frank  was  very  pale. 

"Why  not?"  he  asked  quickly.  "Miss 
Nuttall  has  probably  been  detained  by  the 
traffic  or  a  burst  tire.  She  will  be  here  very 
shortly." 

The  minister  shook  his  head  and  hung  up  his 
white  surplice  in  the  cupboard. 

"  The  law  of  the  land,  my  dear  Mr.  Merrill," 
he  said,  "  does  not  allow  weddings  after  three 
in  the  afternoon.  You  can  come  along  to- 
morrow morning  any  time  after  eight." 

There  was  a  tap  at  the  door,  and  Frank 
swung  round.  It  was  not  the  girl,  but  a  tele- 
graph boy.  He  snatched  the  buff  envelope 
from  the  lad's  hand  and  tore  it  open.  It  read 
simply : 

The  wedding  cannot  take  place. 
It  was  unsigned. 

159 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

At  two-fifteen  that  afternoon  May  had 
passed  through  the  vestibule  of  the  hotel,  and 
her  foot  was  on  the  step  of  the  taxicab  when 
a  hand  fell  upon  her  arm,  and  she  turned  in 
alarm  to  meet  the  searching  eyes  of  Jasper 
Cole. 

"  Where  are  you  off  to  in  such  a  hurry, 
May?" 

She  flushed  and  drew  her  arm  away  with  a 
decisive  gesture. 

"  I  have  nothing  to  say  to  you,  Jasper,"  she 
said  coldly.  "  After  your  horrible  charge 
against  Frank,  I  never  want  to  speak  to  you 
again." 

He  winced  a  little,  then  smiled. 

"  At  least  you  can  be  civil  to  an  old  friend," 
he  said  good-humoredly,  "  and  tell  me  where 
you  are  off  to  in  such  a  hurry." 

Should  she  tell  him?  A  moment's  inde- 
cision, and  then  she  spoke. 

"  I  am  going  to  marry  Frank  Merrill,"  she 
said. 

He  nodded. 

160 


FRANK  MERRILL  AT  THE  ALTAR 

"  I  thought  as  much.  In  that  case,  I  am 
coming  down  to  the  church  to  make  a  scene." 

He  said  this  with  a  smile  on  his  lips;  but 
there  was  no  mistaking  the  resolution  which 
showed  in  the  thrust  of  his  square  jaw. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  she  said.  "Don't 
be  absurd,  Jasper.  My  mind  is  made  up." 

"  I  mean,"  he  said  quietly,  "  that  I  have  Mr. 
Minute's  power  of  attorney  to  act  for  him,  and 
Mr.  Minute  happens  to  be  your  legal  guardian. 
You  are,  in  point  of  fact,  my  dear  May,  more 
or  less  of  a  ward,  and  you  cannot  marry  before 
you  are  twenty-one  without  your  guardian's 
consent." 

"  I  shall  be  twenty-one  next  week,"  she  said 
defiantly. 

"  Then,"  smiled  the  other>  "  wait  till  next 
week  before  you  marry.  There  is  no  very 
pressing  hurry." 

'  You  forced  this  situation  upon  me,"  said 
the  girl  hotly,  "  and  I  think  it  is  very  horrid  of 
you.  I  am  going  to  marry  Frank  to-day." 

"  Under  those  circumstances,  I  must  come. 
161 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

down  and  forbid  the  marriage;  and  when  our 
parson  asks  if  there  is  any  just  cause  I  shall 
step  forward  to  the  rails,  gayly  flourishing  the 
power  of  attorney,  and  not  even  the  most  hard- 
ened parson  could  continue  in  the  face  of  that 
legal  instrument.  It  is  a  mandamus,  a  caveat, 
?nd  all  sorts  of  horrific  things." 

"  Why  are  you  doing  this  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Because  I  have  no  desire  that  you  shall 
marry  a  man  who  is  certainly  a  forger,  and 
possibly  a  murderer,"  said  Jasper  Cole  calmly. 

"  I  won't  listen  to  you ! "  she  cried,  and 
stepped  into  the  waiting  taxicab. 

Without  a  word,  Jasper  followed  her. 

"  You  can't  turn  me  out,"  he  said,  "  and  I 
know  where  you  are  going,  anyway,  because 
you  were  giving  directions  to  the  driver  when 
I  stood  behind  you.  You  had  better  let  me  go 
with  you.  I  like  the  suburbs." 

She  turned  and  faced  him  swiftly. 

"And  Silvers  Rents?"  she  asked. 

He  went  a  shade  paler. 

*'  What  do  you  know  about  Silvers  Rents?  " 
162 


FRANK   MERRILL  AT   THE   ALTAR 

he  demanded,  recovering  himself  with  an 
effort. 

She  did  not  reply. 

The  taxicab  was  halfway  to  its  destination 
before  the  girl  spoke  again : 

"  Are  you  serious  when  you  say  you  will 
forbid  the  marriage?  " 

"Quite  serious,"  he  replied;  "so  much  so 
that  I  shall  bring  in  a  policeman  to  witness  my 
act." 

The  girl  was  nearly  in  tears. 

"  It  is  monstrous  of  you !  Uncle  would  n't — " 

"  Had  you  not  better  see  your  uncle?"  he 
asked. 

Something  told  her  that  he  would  keep  his 
word.  She  had  a  horror  of  scenes,  and,  worst 
of  all,  she  feared  the  meeting  of  the  two  men 
under  these  circumstances.  Suddenly  she 
leaned  forward  and  tapped  the  window,  and 
the  taxi  slowed  down. 

'*  Tell  him  to  go  back  and  call  at  the  nearest 
telegraph  office.  I  want  to  send  a  wire." 

"  If  it  is  to  Mr.  Frank  Merrill,"  said  Jasper 
163 


THE   MAN   WHO  KNEW 

smoothly,  "  you  may  save  yourself  the  trouble. 
I  have  already  wired." 

Frank  came  back  to  London  in  a  pardonable 
fury.  He  drove  straight  to  the  hotel,  only  to 
learn  that  the  girl  had  left  again  with  her  uncle. 
He  looked  at  his  watch.  He  had  still  some 
work  to  do  at  the  bank,  though  he  had  little 
appetite  for  work. 

Yet  it  was  to  the  bank  he  went.  He  threw 
a  glance  over  the  counter  to  the  table  and  the 
chair  where  he  had  sat  for  so  long  and  at  which 
he  was  destined  never  to  sit  again,  for  as  he 
was  passing  behind  the  counter  Mr.  Brandon 
met  him. 

'  Your  uncle  wishes  to  see  you,  Mr.  Merrill," 
he  said  gravely. 

Frank  hesitated,  then  walked  into  the  office, 
closing  the  door  behind  him,  and  he  noticed 
that  Mr.  Brandon  did  not  attempt  to  follow. 

John  Minute  sat  in  the  one  easy  chair  and 
looked  up  heavily  as  Frank  entered. 

"  Sit  down,  Frank,"  he  said.  "  I  have  a  lot 
of  things  to  ask  you." 

164 


FRANK  MERRILL  AT  THE  ALTAR 

"  And  I  Ve  one  or  two  things  to  ask  you, 
uncle,"  said  Frank  calmly. 

"  If  it  is  about  May,  you  can  save  yourself 
the  trouble/'  said  the  other.  "  If  it  is  about 
Mr.  Rex  Holland,  I  can  give  you  a  little  in- 
formation." 

Frank  looked  at  him  steadily. 

"  I  don't  quite  get  your  meaning,  sir,"  he 
said,  "  though  I  gather  there  is  something  offen- 
sive behind  what  you  have  said." 

John  Minute  twisted  round  in  the  chair  and 
threw  one  leg  over  its  padded  arm. 

"  Frank,"  he  said,  "  I  want  you  to  be  per- 
fectly straight  with  me,  and  I  '11  be  as  perfectly 
straight  with  you," 

The  young  man  made  no  reply. 

"  Certain  facts  have  been  brought  to  my 
attention,  which  leave  no  doubt  in  my  mind  as 
to  the  identity  of  the  alleged  Mr.  Rex  Holland," 
said  John  Minute  slowly.  "  I  don't  relish  say- 
ing this,  because  I  have  liked  you,  Frank, 
though  I  have  sometimes  stood  in  your  way 
and  we  have  not  seen  eye  to  eye  together. 

165 ' 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Now,  I  want  you  to  come  down  to  Eastbourne 
to-morrow  and  have  a  heart-to-heart  talk 
with  me." 

"  What  do  you  expect  I  can  tell  you?  "  asked 
Frank  quietly. 

"  I  want  you  to  tell  me  the  truth.  I  expect 
you  won't,"  said  John  Minute. 

A  half  smile  played  for  a  second  upon 
Frank's  lips. 

"  At  any  rate,"  he  said,  "  you  are  being 
straight  with  me.  I  don't  know  exactly  what 
you  are  driving  at,  uncle,  but  I  gather  that  it 
is  something  rather  unpleasant,  and  that  some- 
where in  the  background  there  is  hovering  an 
accusation  against  me.  From  the  fact  that 
you  have  mentioned  Mr.  Rex  Holland  or  the 
gang  which  went  by  that  name,  I  suppose  that 
you  are  suggesting  that  I  am  an  accomplice  of 
that  gentleman." 

"  I  suggest  more  than  that,"  said  the  other 
quickly.  "  I  suggest  that  you  are  Rex  Hol- 
land." 

Frank  laughed  aloud. 
166 


FRANK   MERRILL  AT   THE  ALTAR 

"  It  is  no  laughing  matter,"  said  John  Minute 
sternly. 

"  From  your  point  of  view  it  is  not,"  said 
Frank,  "  but  from  my  point  of  view  it  has 
certain  humorous  aspects,  and  unfortunately 
I  am  cursed  with  a  sense  of  humor.  I  hardly 
know  how  I  can  go  into  the  matter  here  "  —  he 
looked  round  —  "  for  even  if  this  is  the  time, 
it  is  certainly  not  the  place,  and  I  think  I  '11  ac- 
cept your  invitation  and  come  down  to  Weald 
Lodge  to-morrow  night.  I  gather  you  don't 
want  to  travel  down  with  a  master  criminal 
who  might  at  any  moment  take  your  watch 
and  chain." 

"  I  wish  you  would  look  at  this  matter  more 
seriously,  Frank,"  said  John  Minute  earnestly. 
"  I  want  to  get  to  the  truth,  and  any  truth 
which  exonerates  you  will  be  very  welcome  to 
me." 

Frank  nodded. 

"  I  will  give  you  credit  for  that,"  he  said. 
"  You  may  expect  me  to-morrow.  May  I  ask 
you  as  a  personal  favor  that  you  will  not  dis- 

167 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

cuss  this  matter  with  me  in  the  presence  of  your 
admirable  secretary?  I  have  a  feeling  at  the 
back  of  my  mind  that  he  is  at  the  bottom  of 
all  this.  Remember  that  he  is  as  likely  to  know 
about  Rex  Holland  as  I. 

"  There  has  been  an  audit  at  the  bank," 
Frank  went  on,  "  and  I  am  not  so  stupid  that 
I  don't  understand  what  this  has  meant. 
There  has  also  been  a  certain  coldness  in  the 
attitude  of  Brandon,  and  I  have  intercepted 
suspicious  and  meaning  glances  from  the 
clerks.  I  shall  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  if 
you  tell  me  that  my  books  are  not  in  order. 
But  again  I  would  point  out  to  you  that  it  is 
just  as  possible  for  Jasper,  who  has  access  to 
the  bank  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  to 
have  altered  them  as  it  is  for  me. 

"  I  hasten  to  add,"  he  said,  with  a  smile, 
"  that  I  don't  accuse  Jasper.  He  is  such  a 
machine,  and  I  cannot  imagine  him  capable  of 
so  much  initiative  as  systematically  to  forge 
checks  and  falsify  ledgers.  I  merely  mention 

168 


FRANK   MERRILL  AT   THE  ALTAR 

Jasper  because  I  want  to  emphasize  the  injus- 
tice of  putting  any  man  under  suspicion  unless 
you  have  the  strongest  and  most  convincing 
proof  of  his  guilt.  To  declare  my  innocence 
is  unnecessary  from  my  point  of  view,  and 
probably  from  yours  also ;  but  I  declare  to  you, 
Uncle  John,  that  I  know  no  more  about  this 
matter  than  you." 

He  stood  leaning  on  the  desk  and  looking 
down  at  his  uncle;  and  John  Minute,  with  all 
his  experience  of  men,  and  for  all  his  sus- 
picions, felt  just  a  twinge  of  remorse.  It  was 
not  to  last  long,  however. 

"  I  shall  expect  you  to-morrow,"  he  said. 

Frank  nodded,  walked  out  of  the  room  and 
out  of  the  bank,  and  twenty-four  pairs  of 
speculative  eyes  followed  him. 

A  few  hours  later  another  curious  scene  was 
being  enacted,  this  time  near  the  town  of  East 
Grinstead.  There  is  a  lonely  stretch  of  road 
across  a  heath,  which  is  called,  for  some  reason, 
Ashdown  Forest.  A  car  was  drawn  up  on  a 

169 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

patch  of  turf  by  the  side  of  the  heath.  Its 
owner  was  sitting  in  a  little  clearing  out  of 
view  of  the  road,  sipping  a  cup  of  tea  which 
his  chauffeur  had  made.  He  finished  this  and 
watched  his  servant  take  the  basket. 

"  Come  back  to  me  when  you  have  finished," 
he  said. 

The  man  touched  his  hat  and  disappeared 
with  the  package,  but  returned  again  in  a  few 
minutes. 

"  Sit  down,  Feltham,"  said  Mr.  Rex  Hol- 
land. "  I  dare  say  you  think  it  was  rather 
strange  of  me  to  give  you  that  little  commission 
the  other  day,"  said  Mr.  Holland,  crossing  his 
legs  and  leaning  back  against  a  tree. 

The  chauffeur  smiled  uncomfortably. 

'  Yes,  sir,  I  did,"  he  said  shortly. 

''  Were  you  satisfied  with  what  I  gave  you  ?  " 
asked  the  man. 

The  chauffeur  shuffled  his  feet  uneasily. 

"  Quite  satisfied,  sir,"  he  said. 

'  You  seem  a  little  distrait,  Feltham ;  I  mean 
a  little  upset  about  something.  What  is  it?" 

170 


FRANK  MERRILL  AT  THE  ALTAR 

The  man  coughed  in  embarrassed  confusion. 

"  Well,  sir,"  he  began,  "  the  fact  is,  I  don't 
like  it." 

"  You  don't  like  what  ?  The  five  hundred 
pounds  I  gave  you?  " 

"  No,  sir.  It  is  not  that,  but  it  was  a  queer 
thing  to  ask  me  to  do  —  pretend  to  be  you  and 
send  a  commissionaire  to  the  bank  for  your 
money,  and  then  get  away  out  of  London  to  a 
quiet  little  hole  like  Bilstead." 

"  So  you  think  it  was  queer?  " 

The  chauffeur  nodded. 

"  The  fact  is,  sir,"  he  blurted  out,  "  I  've  seen 
the  papers." 

The  other  nodded  thoughtfully. 

"  I  presume  you  mean  the  newspapers.  And 
what  is  there  in  the  newspapers  that  interests 
you?" 

Mr.  Holland  took  a  gold  case  from  his 
pocket,  opened  it  languidly,  and  selected  a 
cigarette.  He  was  closing  it  when  he  caught 
the  chauffeur's  eye  and  tossed  a  cigarette  to 
him. 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  Thank  you,  sir,"  said  the  man. 

"  What  was  it  you  did  n't  like?  "  asked  Mr. 
Holland  again,  passing  a  match. 

"  Well,  sir,  I  Ve  been  in  all  sorts  of  queer 
places,"  said  Feltham  doggedly,  as  he  ptrffed 
away  at  the  cigarette,  "  but  I  Ve  always  man- 
aged to  keep  clear  of  anything  —  funny.  Do 
you  see  what  I  mean  ?  " 

"  By  funny  I  presume  you  don't  mean 
comic,"  said  Mr.  Rex  Holland  cheerfully. 
"  You  mean  dishonest,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  That 's  right,  sir,  and  there 's  no  doubt 
that  I  have  been  in  a  swindle,  and  it 's  worry- 
ing me  —  that  bank- forgery  case.  Why,  I  read 
my  own  description  in  the  paper ! " 

Beads  of  perspiration  stood  upon  the  little 
man's  forehead,  and  there  was  a  pathetic  droop 
to  his  mouth. 

"  That  is  a  distinction  which  falls  to  few  of 
us,"  said  his  employer  suavely.  "  You  ought 
to  feel  highly  honored.  And  what  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it,  Feltham  ?  " 

The  man  looked  to  left  and  right  as  though 
172 


FRANK  MERRILL  AT  THE  ALTAR 

seeking  some  friend  in  need  who  would  step 
forth  with  ready-made  advice. 

"  The  only  thing  I  can  do,  sir,"  he  said,  "  is 
to  give  myself  up." 

"  And  give  me  up,  too,"  said  the  other,  with 
a  little  laugh.  "  Oh,  no,  my  dear  Feltham. 
Listen ;  I  will  tell  you  something.  A  few  weeks 
ago  I  had  a  very  promising  valet  chauffeur  just 
like  you.  He  was  an  admirable  man,  and  he 
was  also  a  foreigner.  I  believe  he  was  a  Swede. 
He  came  to  me  tinder  exactly  the  same  cir- 
cumstances as  you  arrived,  and  he  received 
exactly  the  same  instructions  as  you  have  re- 
ceived, which  unfortunately  he  did  not  carry 
out  to  the  letter.  I  caught  him  pilfering  from 
me  —  a  few  trinkets  of  no  great  value  —  and, 
instead  of  the  foolish  fellow  repenting,  he 
blurted  out  the  one  fact  which  I  did  not  wish 
him  to  know,  and  incidentally  which  I  did  not 
wish  anybody  in  the  world  to  know. 

"  He  knew  who  I  was.  He  had  seen  me  in 
the  West  End  and  had  discovered  my  identity. 
He  even  sought  an  interview  with  some  one  to 

173 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

whom  it  would  have  been  inconvenient  to  have 
made  known  my  —  character.  I  promised  to 
find  him  another  job,  but  he  had  already  de- 
cided upon  changing  and  had  cut  out  an  ad- 
vertisement from  a  newspaper.  I  parted 
friendly  with  him,  wished  him  luck,  and  he 
went  off  to  interview  his  possible  employer, 
smoking  one  of  my  cigarettes  just  as  you  are 
smoking  —  and  he  threw  it  away,  I  have  no 
doubt,  just  as  you  have  thrown  it  away  when  it 
began  to  taste  a  little  bitter." 

"  Look  here ! "  said  the  chauffeur,  and 
scrambled  to  his  feet.  "If  you  try  any  monkey 
tricks  with  me  —  " 

Mr.  Holland  eyed  him  with  interest. 

"If  you  try  any  monkey  tricks  with  me," 
said  the  chauffeur  thickly,  "  I  '11  —  " 

He  pitched  forward  on  his  face  and  lay  still. 

Mr.  Holland  waited  long  enough  to  search 
his  pockets,  and  then,  stepping  cautiously  into 
the  road,  donned  the  chauffeur's  cap  and 
goggles  and  set  his  car  running  swiftly  south- 
ward. 

174 


CHAPTER   X 

A     MURDER 

CONSTABLE  WISEMAN  lived  in  the 
bosom  of  his  admiring  family  in  a  small 
cottage  on  the  Bexhill  Road.  That  "  my  father 
was  a  policeman  "  was  the  proud  boast  of  two 
small  boys,  a  boast  which  entitled  them  to  no 
small  amount  of  respect,  because  P.  C.  Wise- 
man was  not  only  honored  in  his  own  circle 
but  throughout  the  village  in  which  he  dwelt. 
He  was,  in  the  first  place,  a  town  policeman, 
as  distinct  from  a  county  policeman,  though 
he  wore  the  badge  and  uniform  of  the  Sussex 
constabulary.  It  was  felt  that  a  town  police- 
man had  more  in  common  with  crime,  had  a 
vaster  experience,  and  was  in  consequence  a 
more  helpful  adviser  than  a  man  whose  duties 
began  and  ended  in  the  patrolling  of  country 
lanes  and  law-abiding  villages  where  nothing 
more  exciting  than  an  occasional  dog  fight  or 

175 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

a  charge  of  poaching  served  to  fill  the  hiatus  of 
constabulary  life. 

Constable  Wiseman  was  looked  upon  as  a 
shrewd  fellow,  a  man  to  whom  might  be 
brought  the  delicate  problems  which  occasion- 
ally perplexed  and  confused  the  bucolic  mind. 
He  had  settled  the  vexed  question  as  to  whether 
a  policeman  could  or  could  not  enter  a  house 
where  a  man  was  beating  his  wife,  and  had  de- 
cided that  such  a  trespass  could  only  be  com- 
mitted if  the  lady  involved  should  utter  piercing 
cries  of  "  Murder !  " 

He  added  significantly  that  the  constable 
who  was  called  upon  must  be  the  constable  on 
duty,  and  not  an  ornament  of  the  force  who  by 
accident  was  a  resident  in  their  midst. 

The  problem  of  the  straying  chicken  and  the 
egg  that  is  laid  on  alien  property,  the  point  of 
law  involved  in  the  question  as  to  when  a 
servant  should  give  notice  and  the  date  from 
which  her  notice  should  count  —  all  these  mat- 
ters came  within  Constable  Wiseman's  pur- 
view, and  were  solved  to  the  satisfaction  of 

176 


A   MURDER 

all  who  brought  their  little  obscurities  for 
solution. 

But  it  was  in  his  own  domestic  circle  that 
Constable  Wiseman  —  appropriately  named, 
as  all  agreed  —  shone  with  an  effulgence  that 
was  almost  dazzling,  and  was  a  source  of  irri- 
tation to  the  male  relatives  on  his  wife's  side, 
one  of  whom  had  unfortunately  come  within 
the  grasp  of  the  law  over  a  matter  of  a  snared 
rabbit  and  was  in  consequence  predisposed  to 
anarchy  in  so  far  as  the  abolition  of  law  and 
order  affected  the  police  force. 

Constable  Wiseman  sat  at  tea  one  summer 
evening,  and  about  the  spotless  white  cloth 
which  covered  the  table  was  grouped  all  that 
Constable  Wiseman  might  legally  call  his. 
Tea  was  a  function,  and  to  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  family  meant  just  tea  and  bread 
and  butter.  To  Constable  Wiseman  it  meant 
luxuries  of  a  varied  and  costly  nature.  His 
taste  ranged  from  rump  steak  to  Yarmouth 
bloaters,  and  once  he  had  introduced  a  foreign 
delicacy  —  foreign  to  the  village,  which  had 

177 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

never  known  before  the  reason  for  their  ex- 
istence —  sweetbreads. 

The  conversation,  which  was  well  sustained 
by  Mr.  Wiseman,  was  usually  of  himself,  his 
wife  being  content  to  punctuate  his  autobi- 
ography with  such  encouraging  phrases  as, 
"  Dear,  dear !  "  "  Well,  whatever  next !  "  the 
children  doing  no  more  than  ask  in  a  whisper 
for  more  food.  This  they  did  at  regular  and 
frequent  intervals,  but  because  of  their  whis- 
pers they  were  supposed  to  be  unheard. 

Constable  Wiseman  spoke  about  himself  be- 
cause he  knew  of  nothing  more  interesting  to 
talk  about.  His  evening  conversation  usually 
took  the  form  of  a  very  full  resume  of  his 
previous  day's  experience.  He  left  the  im- 
pression upon  his  wife  —  and  glad  enough  she 
was  to  have  such  an  impression  —  that  East- 
bourne was  a  well-conducted  town  mainly  as 
a  result  of  P.  C.  Wiseman's  ceaseless  and  tire- 
less efforts. 

"  I  never  had  a  clew  yet  that  I  never  follered 
to  the  bitter  end,"  said  the  preening  constable. 


A    MURDER 

"  You  remember  when  Raggett's  orchard  was 
robbed  —  who  found  the  thieves  ?  " 

"  You  did,  of  course ;  I  'm  sure  you  did," 
said  Mrs.  Wiseman,  jigging  her  youngest  on 
her  knee,  the  youngest  not  having  arrived  at 
the  age  where  he  recognized  the  necessity  for 
expressing  his  desires  in  whispers. 

'  Who  caught  them  three-card-trick  men 
after  the  Lewes  races  last  year  ?  "  went  on 
Constable  Wiseman  passionately.  "  Who  has 
had  more  summonses  for  smoking  chimneys 
than  any  other  man  in  the  force?  Some 
people,"  he  added,  as  he  rose  heavily  and  took 
down  his  tunic,  which  hung  on  the  wall  — 
"  some  people  would  ask  for  promotion ;  but 
I  'm  perfectly  satisfied.  I  'm  not  one  of  those 
ambitious  sort.  Why,  I  wouldn't  know  at 
all  what  to  do  with  myself  if  they  made  me 
a  sergeant." 

'  You  deserve  it,  anyway,"  said  Mrs.  Wise- 
man. 

"  I  don't  deserve  anything  I  don't  want," 
said  Mr.  Wiseman  loftily.  "  I  Ve  learned  a 

179 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

few  things,  too,  but  I  've  never  made  use  of 
what 's  come  to  me  officially  to  get  me  pushed 
along.  You'll  hear  something  in  a  day  or 
two,"  he  said  mysteriously,  "  and  in  high  life, 
too,  in  a  manner  of  speaking  —  that  is,  if  you 
can  call  old  Minute  high  life,  which  I  very 
much  doubt" 

"  You  don't  say  so ! "  said  Mrs.  Wiseman, 
appropriately  amazed. 

Her  husband  nodded  his  head. 

''  There  's  trouble  up  there/'  he  said.  "  From 
certain  information  I  've  received,  there  has 
been  a  big  row  between  young  Mr.  Merrill  and 
the  old  man,  and  the  C  I.  D.  people  have  been 
down  about  it.  What 's  more,"  he  said,  "  I 
could  tell  a  thing  or  two.  I  Ve  seen  that  boy 
look  at  the  old  man  as  though  he  'd  like  to  kill 
him.  You  would  n't  believe  it,  would  you,  but 
I  know,  and  it  didn't  happen  so  long  ago 
either.  He  was  always  snubbing  him  when 
young  Merrill  was  down  here  acting  as  his 
secretary,  and  as  good  as  called  him  a  fool  in 
front  of  my  face  when  I  served  him  with  that 

1 80 


A    MURDER 

summons  for  having  his  lights  up.  You  '11 
hear  something  one  of  these  days." 

Constable  Wiseman  was  an  excellent  prophet, 
vague  as  his  prophecy  was. 

He  went  out  of  the  cottage  to  his  duty  in 
a  complacent  frame  of  mind,  which  was  not 
unusual,  for  Constable  Wiseman  was  nothing 
if  not  satisfied  with  his  fate.  His  complacency 
continued  until  a  little  after  seven  o'clock  that 
evening. 

It  so  happened  that  Constable  Wiseman,  no 
less  than  every  other  member  of  the  force  on 
duty  that  night,  had  much  to  think  about,  much 
that  was  at  once  exciting  and  absorbing.  It 
had  been  whispered  before  the  evening  parade 
that  Sergeant  Smith  was  to  leave  the  force. 
There  was  some  talk  of  his  being  dismissed, 
but  it  was  clear  that  he  had  been  given  the 
opportunity  of  resigning,  for  he  was  still  doing 
duty,  which  would  not  have  been  the  case  had 
he  been  forcibly  removed. 

Sergeant  Smith's  mien  and  attitude  had  con- 
firmed the  rumor.  Nobody  was  surprised, 

181 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

since  this  dour  officer  had  been  in  trouble  be- 
fore. Twice  had  he  been  before  the  deputy 
chief  constable  for  neglect  of,  and  being  drunk 
while  on,  duty.  On  the  earlier  occasions  he 
had  had  remarkable  escapes.  Some  people 
talked  of  influence,  but  it  is  more  likely  that 
the  man's  record  had  helped  him,  for  he  was 
a  first-class  policeman  with  a  nose  for  crime, 
absolutely  fearless,  and  had,  moreover,  assisted 
in  the  capture  of  one  or  two  very  desperate 
criminals  who  had  made  their  way  to  the  south- 
coast  town. 

His  last  offense,  however,  was  too  grave  to 
overlook.  His  inspector,  going  the  rounds, 
had  missed  him,  and  after  a  search  he  was  dis- 
covered outside  a  public  house.  It  is  no  great 
crime  to  be  found  outside  a  public  house, 
particularly  when  an  officer  has  a  fairly  ex- 
tensive area  to  cover,  and  in  this  respect  he  was 
well  within  the  limits  of  that  area.  But  it  must 
be  explained  that  the  reason  the  sergeant  was 
outside  the  public  house  was  because  he  had 
challenged  a  fellow  carouser  to  fight,  and  at  the 

182 


A    MURDER 

moment  he  was  discovered  he  was  stripped  to 
the  waist  and  setting  about  his  task  with  rare 
workmanlike  skill. 

He  was  also  drunk. 

To  have  retained  his  services  thereafter 
would  have  been  little  less  than  a  crying 
scandal.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that 
Sergeant  Smith  had  made  a  desperate  attempt 
to  use  the  influence  behind  him,  and  use  it  to 
its  fullest  extent. 

He  had  had  one  stormy  interview  with  John 
Minute,  and  had  planned  another.  Constable 
Wiseman,  patrolling  the  London  Road,  his 
mind  filled  with  the  great  news,  was  suddenly 
confronted  with  the  object  of  his  thoughts. 
The  sergeant  rode  up  to  where  the  constable 
was  standing  in  a  professional  attitude  at  the 
corner  of  two  roads,  and  jumped  off  with  the 
manner  of  a  man  who  has  an  object  in  view. 

''  Wiseman,"  he  said  —  and  his  voice  was 
such  as  to  suggest  that  he  had  been  drinking 
again  — "  where  will  you  be  at  ten  o'clock 
to-night?" 

183 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Constable  Wiseman  raised  his  eyes  in 
thought. 

"  At  ten  o'clock,  Sergeant,  I  shall  be  opposite 
the  gates  of  the  cemetery." 

The  sergeant  looked  round  left  and  right. 

"  I  am  going  to  see  Mr.  Minute  on  a  matter 
of  business/'  he  said,  "  and  you  need  n't 
mention  the  fact" 

"  I  keep  myself  to  myself,"  began  Constable 
Wiseman.  "  What  I  see  with  one  eye  goes  out 
of  the  other,  in  the  manner  of  speaking  —  " 

The  sergeant  nodded,  stepped  on  to  his 
bicycle  again,  turned  it  about,  and  went  at  full 
speed  down  the  gentle  incline  toward  Weald 
Lodge.  He  made  no  secret  of  his  visit,  but 
rode  through  the  wide  gates  up  the  gravel 
drive  to  the  front  of  the  house,  rang  the  bell, 
and  to  the  servant  who  answered  demanded 
peremptorily  to  see  Mr.  Minute. 

John  Minute  received  him  in  the  library, 
where  the  previous  interviews  had  taken  place. 
Minute  waited  until  the  servant  had  gone  and 
the  door  was  closed,  and  then  he  said: 

184 


A   MURDER 

"  Now,  Crawley,  there  's  no  sense  in  coming 
to  me ;  I  can  do  nothing  for  you." 

The  sergeant  put  his  helmet  on  the  table, 
walked  to  a  sideboard  where  a'  tray  and  de- 
canter stood,  and  poured  himself  out  a  stiff 
dose  of  whisky  without  invitation.  John 
Minute  watched  him  without  any  great  resent- 
ment. This  was  not  civilized  Eastbourne  they 
were  in.  They  were  back  in  the  old  free-and- 
easy  days  of  Gwelo,  where  men  did  not  expect 
invitations  to  drink. 

Smith  —  or  Crawley,  to  give  him  his  real 
name  —  tossed  down  half  a  tumbler  of  neat 
whisky  and  turned,  wiping  his  heavy  mus- 
tache with  the  back  of  his  hand. 

"  So  you  can't  do  anything,  can't  you  ?  "  he 
mimicked.  "  Well,  I  'm  going  to  show  you 
that  you  can,  and  that  you  will !  " 

He  put  up  his  hand  to  check  the  words  on 
John  Minute's  lips. 

'  There  's  no  sense  in  your  putting  that  rougli 
stuff  over  me  about  your  being  able  to  send  me 
to  jail,  because  you  would  n't  do  it.  It  does  n't 

185 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

suit  your  book,  John  Minute,  to  go  into  the 
court  and  testify  against  me.  Too  many  things 
would  come  out  in  the  witness  box,  and  you 
well  know  it  —  besides,  Rhodesia  is  a  long  way 
off!" 

'''  I  know  a  place  which  is  n't  so  far  distant," 
said  the  other,  looking  up  from  his  chair  —  "a 
place  called  Felixstowe,  for  example.  There  's 
another  place  called  Cromer.  I  've  been  in 
consultation  with  a  gentleman  you  may  have 
heard  of,  a  Mr.  Saul  Arthur  Mann." 

"  Saul  Arthur  Mann,"  repeated  the  other 
slowly.  "  I  Ve  never  heard  of  him." 

'  You  would  not,  but  he  has  heard  of  you," 
said  John  Minute  calmly.  '  The  fact  is,  Craw- 
ley,  there  's  a  big  bad  record  against  you,  be- 
tween your  serious  crimes  in  Rhodesia  and  your 
blackmail  of  to-day.  I  've  a  few  facts  about  you 
which  will  interest  you.  I  know  the  date  you 
came  to  this  country,  which  I  did  n't  know  be- 
fore, and  I  know  how  you  earned  your  living 
until  you  found  me.  I  know  of  some  shares  in 
a  non-existent  Rhodesian  mine  which  you  sold 

186 


A   MURDER 

to  a  feeble-minded  gentleman  at  Cromer,  and 
to  a  lady,  equally  feeble-minded,  at  Felixstowe. 
I  Ve  not  only  got  the  shares  you  sold,  with  your 
signature  as  a  director,  but  I  have  letters  and 
receipts  signed  by  you.  It  has  cost  me  a  lot  of 
money  to  get  them,  but  it  was  well  worth  it." 

Crawley's  face  was  livid.  He  took  a  step 
toward  the  other,  but  recoiled,  for  at  the  first 
hint  of  danger  John  Minute  had  pulled  the 
revolver  he  invariably  carried. 

"Keep  just  where  you  are,  Crawley!"  he 
said.  "You  are  close  enough  now  to  be 
unpleasant." 

"  So  you  've  got  my  record,  have  you  ?  "  said 
the  other,  with  an  oath.  "  Tucked  away  with 
your  marriage  lines,  I  '11  bet,  and  the  certificate 
of  birth  of  the  kids  you  left  to  starve  with  their 
mother." 

"  Get  out  of  here ! "  said  Minute,  with 
dangerous  quiet.  "  Get  away  while  you  're 
safe!" 

There  was  something  in  his  eye  which  cowed 
the  half -drunken  man  who,  turning  with  a 

187 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

laugh,  picked  up  his  helmet  and  walked  from 
the  room. 

The  hour  was  seven-thirty-five  by  Constable 
Wiseman's  watch;  for,  slowly  patrolling  back, 
he  saw  the  sergeant  come  flying  out  of  the 
gateway  on  his  bicycle  and  turn  down  toward 
the  town.  Constable  Wiseman  subsequently 
explained  that  he  looked  at  his  watch  because 
he  had  a  regular  point  at  which  he  should  meet 
Sergeant  Smith  at  seven- forty-five  and  he  was 
wondering  whether  his  superior  would  return. 

The  chronology  of  the  next  three  hours  has 
been  so  often  given  in  various  accounts  of  the 
events  which  marked  that  evening  that  I  may 
be  excused  if  I  give  them  in  detail. 

A  car,  white  with  dust,  turned  into  the  stable 
yard  of  the  Star  Hotel,  Maidstone.  The 
driver,  in  a  dust  coat  and  a  chauffeur's  cap, 
descended  and  handed  over  the  car  to  a  garage 
keeper  with  instructions  to  clean  it  up  and  have 
it  filled  ready  for  him  the  following  morning. 
He  gave  explicit  instructions  as  to  the  number 

1 88 


A   MURDER 

of  tins  of  petrol  he  required  to  carry  always 
and  tipped  the  garage  keeper  handsomely  in 
advance. 

He  was  described  as  a  young  man  with  a 
slight  black  mustache,  and  he  was  wearing 
his  motor  goggles  when  he  went  into  the  office 
of  the  hotel  and  ordered  a  bed  and  a  sitting 
room.  Therefore  his  face  was  not  seen.  When 
his  dinner  was  served,  it  was  remarked  by  the 
waiter  that  his  goggles  were  still  on  his  face. 
He  gave  instructions  that  the  whole  of  the 
dinner  was  to  be  served  at  once  and  put  upon 
the  sideboard,  and  that  he  did  not  wish  to  be 
disturbed  until  he  rang  the  bell. 

When  the  bell  rang  the  waiter  came  to  find 
the  room  empty.  But  from  the  adjoining  room 
he  received  orders  to  have  breakfast  by  seven 
o'clock  the  following  morning. 

At  seven  o'clock  the  driver  of  the  car  paid 
his  bill,  his  big  motor  goggles  still  upon  his 
face,  again  tipped  the  garage  keeper  hand- 
somely, and  drove  his  car  from  the  yard.  He 
turned  to  the  right  and  appeared  to  be  taking 

189 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

the  London  Road,  but  later  in  the  day,  as  has 
been  established,  the  car  was  seen  on  its  way 
to  Paddock  Wood,  and  was  later  observed  at 
Tonbridge.  The  driver  pulled  up  at  a  little 
tea  house  half  a  mile  from  the  town,  ordered 
sandwiches  and  tea,  which  were  brought  to 
him,  and  which  he  consumed  in  the  car. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  the  car  was  seen  at 
Uckfield,  and  the  theory  generally  held  was 
that  the  driver  was  killing  time.  At  the  way- 
side cottage  at  which  he  stopped  for  tea  —  it 
was  one  of  those  little  places  that  invite  cyclists 
by  an  ill-printed  board  to  tarry  a  while  and 
refresh  themselves  —  he  had  some  conversa- 
tion with  the  tenant  of  the  cottage,  a  widow. 
She  seems  to  have  been  the  usual  loquacious, 
friendly  soul  who  tells  one  without  reserve  her 
business,  her  troubles,  and  a  fair  sprinkling 
of  the  news  of  the  day  in  the  shortest  possible 
time. 

"  I  have  n't  seen  a  paper,"  said  Rex  Hol- 
land politely.  "  It  is  a  very  curious  thing  that 
I  never  thought  about  newspapers." 

190 


A   MURDER 

"  I  can  get  you  one,"  said  the  woman  eagerly. 
"  You  ought  to  read  about  that  case." 

1  The  dead  chauffeur  ?  "  asked  Rex  Holland 
interestedly,  for  that  had  been  the  item  of 
general  news  which  was  foremost  in  the 
woman's  conversation. 

'  Yes,  sir ;  he  was  murdered  in  Ashdown 
Forest.  Many 's  the  time  I  Ve  driven  over 
there." 

!<  How  do  you  know  it  was  a  murder  ?  " 

She  knew  for  many  reasons.  Her  brother- 
in-law  was  gamekeeper  to  Lord  Ferring,  and 
a  colleague  of  his  had  been  the  man  who  had 
discovered  the  body,  and  it  had  appeared,  as 
the  good  lady  explained,  that  this  same  chauf- 
feur was  a  man  for  whom  the  police  had  been 
searching  in  connection  with  a  bank  robbery 
about  which  much  had  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers of  the  day  previous. 

"  How  very  interesting!  "  said  Mr.  Holland, 
and  took  the  paper  from  her  hand. 

He  read  the  description  line  by  line.  He 
learned  that  the  police  were  in  possession  of 

191 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

important  clews,  and  that  they  were  on  the 
track  of  the  man  who  had  been  seen  in  the 
company  of  the  chauffeur.  Moreover,  said  a 
most  indiscreet  newspaper  writer,  the  police 
had  a  photograph  showing  the  chauffeur  stand- 
ing by  the  side  of  his  car,  and  reproductions  of 
this  photograph,  showing  the  type  of  machine, 
were  being  circulated. 

"How  very  interesting!"  said  Mr.  Rex 
Holland  again,  being  perfectly  content  in  his 
mind,  for  his  search  of  the  body  had  revealed 
copies  of  this  identical  picture,  and  the  car  in 
which  he  was  seated  was  not  the  car  which  had 
been  photographed.  From  this  point,  a  mile 
and  a  half  beyond  Uckfield,  all  trace  of  the  car 
and  its  occupant  was  lost. 

The  writer  has  been  very  careful  to  note  the 
exact  times  and  to  confirm  those  about  which 
there  was  any  doubt.  At  nine-twenty  on  the 
night  when  Constable  Wiseman  had  patrolled 
the  road  before  Weald  Lodge  and  had  seen 
Sergeant  Smith  flying  down  the  road  on  his 
bicycle,  and  on  the  night  of  that  day  when  Mr. 

192 


A    MURDER 

Rex  Holland  had  been  seen  at  Uckfield,  there 
arrived  by  the  London  train,  which  is  due  at 
Eastbourne  at  nine-twenty,  Frank  Merrill.  The 
train,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  three  minutes 
late,  and  Frank,  who  had  been  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  train,  was  one  of  the  last  of  the 
passengers  to  arrive  at  the  barrier. 

When  he  reached  the  barrier,  he  discovered 
that  he  had  no  railway  ticket,  a  very  ordinary 
and  vexatious  experience  which  travelers  be- 
fore now  have  endured.  He  searched  in  every 
pocket,  including  the  pocket  of  the  light  ulster 
he  wore,  but  without  success.  He  was  vexed, 
but  he  laughed  because  he  had  a  strong  sense 
of  humor. 

"  I  could  pay  for  my  ticket,"  he  smiled,  "  but 
I  be  hanged  if  I  will!  Inspector,  you  search 
that  overcoat." 

The  amused  inspector  complied  while  Frank 
again  went  through  all  his  pockets.  At  his 
request  he  accompanied  the  inspector  to  the 
latter's  office,  and  there  deposited  on  the  table 

193 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

the  contents  of  his  pockets,  his  money,  letters, 
and  pocketbook. 

'  You  're  used  to  searching  people,"  he  said. 
"  See  if  you  can  find  it.  I  '11  swear  I  've  got  it 
about  me  somewhere." 

The  obliging  inspector  felt,  probed,  but  with- 
out success,  till  suddenly,  with  a  roar  of  laugh- 
ter, Frank  cried: 

'  What  a  stupid  ass  I  am !  I  Ve  got  it  in 
my  hat ! " 

He  took  off  his  hat,  and  there  in  the  lining 
was  a  first-class  ticket  from  London  to  East- 
bourne. 

It  is  necessary  to  lay  particular  stress  upon 
this  incident,  which  had  an  important  bearing 
upon  subsequent  events.  He  called  a  taxicab, 
drove  to  Weald  Lodge,  and  dismissed  the 
driver  in  the  road.  He  arrived  at  Weald 
Lodge,  by  the  testimony  of  the  driver  and  by 
that  of  Constable  Wiseman,  whom  the  car  had 
passed,  at  about  nine-forty. 

Mr.  John  Minute  at  this  time  was  alone ;  his 
suspicious  nature  would  not  allow  the  presence 

194 


A    MURDER 

of  servants  in  the  house  during?  the  interview 
which  he  was  to  have  with  his  nephew.  He 
regarded  servants  as  spies  and  eavesdroppers, 
and  perhaps  there  was  an  excuse  for  his  un- 
charitable view. 

At  nine-fifty,  ten  minutes  after  Frank  had 
entered  the  gates  of  Weald  Lodge,  a  car  with 
gleaming  headlights  came  quickly  from  the 
opposite  direction  and  pulled  up  outside  the 
gates.  P.  C.  Wiseman,  who  at  this  moment 
was  less  than  fifty  yards  from  the  gate,  saw  a 
man  descend  and  pass  quickly  into  the  grounds 
of  the  house. 

At  nine-fifty-two  or  nine-fifty-three  the 
constable,  walking  slowly  toward  the  house, 
came  abreast  of  the  wall,  and,  looking  up,  saw 
a  light  flash  for  a  moment  in  one  of  the  upper 
windows.  He  had  hardly  seen  this  when  he 
heard  two  shots  fired  in  rapid  succession,  and 
a  cry. 

Only  for  a  moment  did  P.  C.  Wiseman 
hesitate.  He  jumped  the  low  wall,  pushed 
through  the  shrubs,  and  made  for  the  side  of 

195 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

the  house  from  whence  a  flood  of  light  fell 
from  the  open  French  windows  of  the  library. 
He  blundered  into  the  room  a  pace  or  two,  and 
then  stopped,  for  the  sight  was  one  which 
might  well  arrest  even  as  unimaginative  a  man 
as  a  county  constable. 

John  Minute  lay  on  the  floor  on  his  back,  and 
it  did  not  need  a  doctor  to  tell  that  he  was  dead. 
By  his  side,  and  almost  within  reach  of  his 
hand,  was  a  revolver  of  a  very  heavy  army 
pattern.  Mechanically  the  constable  picked  up 
the  revolver  and  turned  his  stern  face  to  the 
other  occupant  of  the  room. 

'  This  is  a  bad  business,  Mr.  Merrill,"  he 
found  his  breath  to  say. 

Frank  Merrill  had  been  leaning  over  his 
uncle  as  the  constable  entered,  but  now  stood 
erect,  pale,  but  perfectly  self-possessed. 

"  I  heard  the  shot  and  I  came  in,"  he  said. 

"  Stay  where  you  are,"  said  the  constable, 
and,  stepping  quickly  out  on  to  the  lawn,  he 
blew  his  whistle  long  and  shrilly,  then  re- 
turned to  the  room. 

196 


A   MURDER 

"  This  is  a  bad  business,  Mr.  Merrill,"  he 
repeated. 

:'  It  is  a  very  bad  business,"  said  the  other 
in  a  low  voice. 

"  Is  this  revolver  yours  ?  " 

Frank  shook  his  head. 

"  I  Ve  never  seen  it  before,"  he  said  with 
emphasis. 

The  constable  thought  as  quickly  as  it  was 
humanly  possible  for  him  to  think.  He  had  no 
doubt  in  his  mind  that  this  unhappy  youth  had 
fired  the  shots  which  had  ended  the  life  of  the 
man  on  the  floor. 

"  Stay  here,"  he  said  again,  and  again  went 
out  to  blow  his  whistle.  He  walked  this  time 
on  the  lawn  by  the  side  of  the  drive  toward  the 
road.  He  had  not  taken  half  a  dozen  steps 
when  he  saw  a  dark  figure  of  a  man  creeping 
stealthily  along  before  him  in  the  shade  of  the 
shrubs.  In  a  second  the  constable  was  on  him, 
had  grasped  him  and  swung  him  round,  flash- 
ing his  lantern  into  his  prisoner's  face.  In- 
stantly he  released  his  hold. 

197 


THE    MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Sergeant,"  he  stam- 
mered. 

"  What 's  the  matter  ?  "  scowled  the  other. 
'''  What  's  wrong  with  you,  Constable?  " 

Sergeant  Smith's  face  was  drawn  and  hag- 
gard. The  policeman  looked  at  him  with  open- 
mouthed  astonishment. 

"  I  did  n't  know  it  was  you,"  he  said. 

"What's  wrong?"  asked  the  other  again, 
and  his  voice  was  cracked  and  unnatural. 

"  There  's  been  a  murder  —  old  Minute  — 
shot!" 

Sergeant  Smith  staggered  back  a  pace. 

"  Good  God !  "  he  said.  "  Minute  murdered  ? 
Then  he  did  it !  The  young  devil  did  it !  " 

"  Come  and  have  a  look,"  invited  Wiseman, 
recovering  his  balance.  "  I  Ve  got  his  nephew." 

"  No,  no !  I  don't  want  to  see  John  Minute 
dead !  You  go  back.  I  '11  bring  another  con- 
stable and  a  doctor." 

He  stumbled  blindly  along  the  drive  into  the 
road,  and  Constable  Wiseman  went  back  to 
the  house.  Frank  was  where  he  had  left  him, 

198 


A   MURDER 

save  that  he  had  seated  himself  and  was  gazing 
steadfastly  upon  the  dead  man.  He  looked  up 
as  the  policeman  entered. 

"  What  have  you  done?  "  he  asked. 

"  The  sergeant 's  gone  for  a  doctor  and  an- 
other constable,"  said  Wiseman  gravely. 

"  I  'm  afraid  they  will  be  too  late,"  said 
Frank.  "  He  is  -  What 's  that  ?  " 

There  was  a  distant  hammering  and  a  faint 
voice  calling  for  help. 

"  What  's  that  ?  "  whispered  Frank  again. 

The  constable  strode  through  the  open  door- 
way to  the  foot  of  the  stairs  and  listened.  The 
sound  came  from  the  upper  story.  He  ran  up- 
stairs, mounting  two  at  a  time,  and  presently 
located  the  noise.  It  came  from  an  end  room, 
and  somebody  was  hammering  on  the  panels. 
The  door  was  locked,  but  the  key  had  been  left 
in  the  lock,  and  this  Constable  Wiseman  turned, 
flooding  the  dark  interior  with  light. 

"  Come  out ! "  he  said,  and  Jasper  Cole 
staggered  out,  dazed  and  shaking. 

"  Somebody  hit  me  on  the  head  with  a  sand- 
199 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

bag,"  he  said  thkkly.     "  I  heard  the  shot. 
What  has  happened  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Minute  has  been  killed,"  said  the 
policeman. 

"Killed!"  He  fell  back  against  the  wall, 
his  face  working.  "Killed!"  he  repeated. 
"Not  killed!" 

The  constable  nodded.  He  had  found  the 
«lectric  switch  and  the  passageway  was  illu- 
minated. 

Presently  the  young  man  mastered  his  emo- 
tion. 

"Where  is  he?"  he  asked,  and  Wiseman 
led  the  way  downstairs. 

Jasper  Cole  walked  into  the  room  without 
a  glance  at  Frank  and  bent  over  the  dead  man. 
For  a  long  time  he  looked  at  him  earnestly, 
then  he  turned  to  Frank. 

"  You  did  this !  "  he  said.  "  I  heard  your 
voice  and  the  shots!  I  heard  you  threaten 
him!" 

Frank  said  nothing.  He  merely  stared  at 
the  other,  and  in  his  eyes  was  a  look  of  infinite 
scorn. 

200 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE   CASE   AGAINST    FRANK    MERRILL 

MR.  SAUL  ARTHUR  MANN  stood  by 
the  window  of  his  office  and  moodily 
watched  the  traffic  passing  up  and  down  this 
busy  city  street  at  what  was  the  busiest  hour 
of  the  day.  He  stood  there  such  a  long  time 
that  the  girl  who  had  sought  his  help  thought 
he  must  have  forgotten  her. 

May  was  pale,  and  her  pallor  was  em- 
phasized by  the  black  dress  she  wore.  The 
terrible  happening  of  a  week  before  had  left 
its  impression  upon  her.  For  her  it  had  been 
a  week  of  sleepless  nights,  a  week's  anguish  of 
mind  unspeakable.  Everybody  had  been  most 
kind,  and  Jasper  was  as  gentle  as  a  woman. 
Such  was  the  influence  that  he  exercised  over 
her  that  she  did  not  feel  any  sense  of  resent- 
ment against  him,  even  though  she  knew  that 
he  was  the  principal  witness  for  the  crown* 

201 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

He  was  so  sincere,  so  honest  in  his  sympathy, 
she  told  herself. 

He  was  so  free  from  any  bitterness  against 
the  man  who  he  believed  had  killed  his  best 
friend  and  his  most  generous  employer  that 
she  could  not  sustain  the  first  feeling  of  re- 
sentment she  had  felt.  Perhaps  it  was  because 
her  great  sorrow  overshadowed  all  other  emo- 
tions; yet  she  was  free  to  analyze  her  friend- 
ship with  the  man  who  was  working  day  and 
night  to  send  the  man  who  loved  her  to  a  felon's 
doom.  She  could  not  understand  herself ;  still 
less  could  she  understand  Jasper. 

She  looked  up  again  at  Mr.  Mann  as  he  stood 
by  the  window,  his  hands  clasped  behind  him; 
and  as  she  did  so  he  turned  slowly  and  came 
back  to  where  she  sat.  His  usually  jocund 
face  was  lugubrious  and  worried. 

"  I  have  given  more  thought  to  this  matter 
than  I  've  given  to  any  other  problem  I  have 
tackled/'  he  said.  "  I  believe  Mr.  Merrill  to 
be  falsely  accused,  and  I  have  one  or  two  points 
to  make  to  his  counsel  which,  when  they  are 

202 


CASE  AGAINST   FRANK  MERRILL 

brought  forward  in  court,  will  prove  beyond 
any  doubt  whatever  that  he  was  innocent.  I 
don't  believe  that  matters  are  so  black  against 
him  as  you  think.  The  other  side  will  certainly 
bring  forward  the  forgery  and  the  doctored 
books  to  supply  a  motive  for  the  murder.  In- 
spector Nash  is  in  charge  of  the  case,  and  he 
promised  to  call  here  at  four  o'clock." 

He  looked  at  his  watch. 

"  It  wants  three  minutes.  Have  you  any 
suggestion  to  offer  ?  " 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  I  can  floor  the  prosecution,"  Mr.  Mann 
went  on,  "  but  what  I  cannot  do  is  to  find  the 
murderer  for  certain.  It  is  obviously  one  of 
three  men.  It  is  either  Sergeant  Crawley,  alias 
Smith,  about  whose  antecedents  Mr.  Minute 
made  an  inquiry,  or  Jasper  Cole,  the  secretary, 
or  —  " 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

It  was  not  necessary  to  say  who  was  the 
third  suspect. 

There  came  a  knock  at  the  door,  and  the 
203 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

clerk  announced  Inspector  Nash.  That  stout 
and  stoical  officer  gave  a  noncommittal  nod  to 
Mr.  Mann  and  a  smiling  recognition  to  the  girl. 

"  Well,  you  know  how  matters  stand,  In- 
spector," said  Mr.  Mann  briskly,  "  and  I 
thought  I  'd  ask  you  to  come  here  to-day  to 
straighten  a  few  things  out." 

"  It  is  rather  irregular,  Mr.  Mann,"  said  the 
inspector,  "  but  as  they  've  no  objection  at 
headquarters,  I  don't  mind  telling  you,  within 
limits,  all  that  I  know;  but  I  don't  suppose  I 
can  tell  you  any  more  than  you  have  found 
out  for  yourself." 

"  Do  you  really  think  Mr.  Merrill  committed 
this  crime?  "  asked  the  girl. 

The  inspector  raised  his  eyebrows  and 
pursed  his  lips. 

"  It  looks  uncommonly  like  it,  miss,"  he  said. 
;<  We  have  evidence  that  the  bank  has  been 
robbed,  and  it  is  almost  certainly  proved  that 
Merrill  had  access  to  the  books  and  was  the 
only  person  in  the  bank  who  could  have  faked 
the  figures  and  transferred  the  money  from 

204 


CASE  AGAINST   FRANK  MERRILL 

one  account  to  another  without  being  found 
out.  There  are  still  one  or  two  doubtful  points 
to  be  cleared  up,  but  there  is  the  motive,  and 
when  you  Ve  got  the  motive  you  are  three 
parts  on  your  way  to  finding  the  criminal.  It 
is  n't  a  straightforward  case  by  any  means," 
he  confessed,  "  and  the  more  I  go  into  it  the 
more  puzzled  I  am.  I  don't  mind  telling  you 
this  frankly:  I  have  seen  Constable  Wiseman, 
who  swears  that  at  the  moment  the  shots  were 
fired  he  saw  a  light  flash  in  the  upper  window. 
We  have  the  statement  of  Mr.  Cole  that  he  was 
in  his  room,  his  employer  having  requested  that 
he  should  make  himself  scarce  when  the  nephew 
came,  and  he  tells  us  how  somebody  opened  the 
door  quietly  and  flashed  an  electric  torch  upon 
him." 

'  What  was  Cole  doing  in  the  dark  ?  "  asked 
Mann  quickly. 

"  He  had  a  headache  and  was  lying  down," 
said  the  inspector.  "  When  he  saw  the  light 
he  jumped  up  and  made  for  it,  and  was  im- 
mediately slugged;  the  door  closed  upon  him 

205 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

and  was  locked.  Between  his  leaving  the  bed 
and  reaching  the  door  he  heard  Mr.  Merrill's 
yoice  threatening  his  uncle,  and  the  shots.  Im- 
mediately afterward  he  was  rendered  insen- 
sible." 

"  A  curious  story,"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann 
dryly.  "  A  very  curious  story !  " 

The  girl  felt  an  unaccountable  and  alto- 
gether amazing  desire  to  defend  Jasper  against 
the  innuendo  in  the  other's  tone,  and  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  she  restrained  herself. 

"  I  don't  think  it  is  a  good  story,"  said  the 
inspector  frankly;  "but  that  is  between  our- 
selves. And  then,  of  course,"  he  went  on,  "  we 
have  the  remarkable  behavior  of  Sergeant 
Smith." 

"Where  is  he?"  asked  Mr.  Mann. 

The  inspector  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Sergeant  Smith  has  disappeared,"  he  said, 
"  though  I  dare  say  we  shall  find  him  before 
long.  He  is  only  one;  the  most  puzzling  ele- 
ment of  all  is  the  fourth  man  concerned,  the 
man  who  arrived  in  the  motor  car  and  who 

206 


(CASE  AGAINST   FRANK  MERRILL 

was  evidently  Mr.  Rex  Holland.  We  have  got 
a  very  full  description  of  him." 

"  I  also  have  a  very  full  description  of  him," 
said  Mr.  Mann  quietly ;  "  but  I  Ve  been  unable 
to  identify  him  with  any  of  the  people  in  my 
records." 

"  Anyway,  it  was  his  car ;  there  is  no  doubt 
about  that." 

"  And  he  was  the  murderer,"  said  Mr.  Mann. 
"  I  Ve  no  doubt  about  that,  nor  have  you." 

"  I  have  doubts  about  everything,"  replied 
the  inspector  diplomatically. 

"  What  was  in  the  car  ?  "  asked  the  little  man 
brightly.  He  was  rapidly  recovering  his  good 
humor. 

'  That  I  am  afraid  I  cannot  tell  you,"  smiled 
the  detective. 

"  Then  I  '11  tell  you/'  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann, 
and,  stepping  up  to  his  desk,  took  a  memo- 
randum from  a  drawer.  '  There  were  two 
motor  rugs,  two  holland  coats,  one  white,  one 
brown.  There  were  two  sets  of  motor  goggles. 
There  was  a  package  of  revolver  cartridges, 

207 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

from  which  six  had  been  extracted,  a  leather 
revolver  holster,  a  small  garden  trowel,  and 
one  or  two  other  little  things." 

Inspector  Nash  swore  softly  under  his 
breath. 

"  I  'm  blessed  if  I  know  how  you  found  all 
that  out,"  he  said,  with  a  little  asperity  in  his 
voice.  '  The  car  was  not  touched  or  searched 
until  we  came  on  the  scene,  and,  beyond  myself 
and  Sergeant  Mannering  of  my  department, 
nobody  knows  what  the  car  contained." 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  smiled,  and  it  was  a  very 
happy  and  triumphant  smile. 

1  You  see,  I  know !  "  he  purred.  "  That  is 
one  point  in  Merrill's  favor." 

'  Yes,"  agreed  the  detective,  and  smiled. 

"  Why  do  you  smile,  Mr.  Nash  ?  "  asked  the 
little  man  suspiciously. 

"  I  was  thinking  of  a  county  policeman  who 
seems  to  have  some  extraordinary  theories  on 
the  subject." 

"  Oh,  you  mean  Wiseman,"  said  Mann,  with 
a  grin.  "  I  've  interviewed  that  gentleman. 

208 


CASE  AGAINST   FRANK  MERRILL 

There  is  a  great  detective  lost  in  him,  In- 
spector." 

"  It  is  lost,  all  right,"  said  the  detective 
laconically.  '  Wiseman  is  very  certain  that 
Merrill  committed  the  crime,  and  I  think  you 
are  going  to  have  a  difficulty  in  persuading  a 
jury  that  he  did  n't.  You  see  Merrill's  story  is 
that  he  came  and  saw  his  uncle,  that  they  had 
a  few  minutes'  chat  together,  that  his  uncle 
suddenly  had  an  attack  of  faintness,  and  that 
he  went  out  of  the  room  into  the  dining  room 
to  get  a  glass  of  water.  While  Merrill  was  in 
the  dining  room  he  heard  the  shots,  and  came 
running  back,  still  with  the  glass  in  his  hand, 
and  saw  his  uncle  lying  on  the  ground.  I  saw 
the  glass,  which  was  half  filled. 

"  I  was  also  there  in  time  to  examine  the 
dining  room  and  see  that  Mr.  Merrill  had 
spilled  some  of  the  water  when  he  was  taking 
it  from  the  carafe.  All  that  part  of  the  story 
is  circumstantially  sound.  What  we  cannot 
understand,  and  what  a  jury  will  never  under- 
stand, is  how,  in  the  very  short  space  of  time, 

209 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

the  murderer  could  have  got  into  the  room  and 
made  his  escape  again." 

"  The  French  windows  were  open,"  said  Mr. 
Mann.  "  All  the  evidence  that  we  have  is  to 
this  effect,  including  the  evidence  of  P.  C. 
Wiseman." 

"  In  those  circumstances,  how  comes  it  that 
the  constable,  who,  when  he  heard  the  shot, 
made  straight  for  the  room,  did  not  meet  the 
murderer  escaping?  He  saw  nobody  in  the 
grounds  —  " 

"  Except  Sergeant  Smith,  or  Crawley,"  in- 
terspersed Saul  Arthur  Mann  readily.  "  I 
have  reason  to  believe,  and,  indeed,  reason  to 
know,  that  Sergeant  Smith,  or  Crawley,  had 
a  motive  for  being  in  the  house.  I  supplied  Mr. 
Minute,  who  was  a  client  of  mine,  w ith  certain 
documents,  and  those  documents  were  in  a  safe 
in  his  bedroom.  What  is  more  likely  than  that 
this  Crawley,  to  whom  it  was  vitally  necessary 
that  the  documents  in  question  should  be  re- 
covered, should  have  entered  the  house  in 
search  of  those  documents  ?  I  don't  mind  tell- 

210 


CASE  AGAINST   FRANK  MERRILL 

ing  you  that  they  related  to  a  fraud  of  which 
he  was  the  author,  and  they  were  in  themselves 
all  the  proof  which  the  police  would  require  to 
obtain  a  conviction  against  him.  He  was  ob- 
viously the  man  who  struck  down  Mr.  Cole,  and 
whose  light  the  constable  saw  flashing  in  the 
upper  window." 

"  In  that  case  he  cannot  have  been  the 
murderer,"  said  the  detective  quickly,  "  be- 
cause the  shots  were  fired  wrhile  he  was  still 
in  the  room.  They  were  almost  simultaneous 
with  the  appearance  of  the  flash  at  the  upper 
window." 

"H'm!"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann,  for  the 
moment  nonplussed. 

"  The  more  you  go  into  this  matter,  the  more 
complicated  does  it  become,"  said  the  police 
officer,  with  a  shake  of  his  head,  "  and  to  my 
mind  the  clearer  is  the  case  against  Merrill." 

"  With  this  reservation,"  interrupted  the 
other,  "  that  you  have  to  account  for  the  move- 
ments of  Mr.  Rex  Holland,  who  comes  on  the 
scene  ten  minutes  after  Frank  Merrill  arrives 

211 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

and  who  leaves  his  car.  He  leaves  his  car  for  a 
very  excellent  reason,"  he  went  on.  "  Sergeant 
Smith,  who  runs  away  to  get  assistance,  meets 
two  men  of  the  Sussex  constabulary,  hurrying 
in  response  to  Wiseman's  whistle.  One  of 
them  stands  by  the  car,  and  the  other  comes 
into  the  house.  It  was,  therefore,  impossible 
for  the  murderer  to  make  use  of  the  car.  Here 
is  another  point  I  would  have  you  explain." 

He  had  hoisted  himself  on  the  edge  of  his 
desk,  and  sat,  an  amusing  little  figure,  his  legs 
swinging  a  foot  from  the  ground. 

"  The  revolver  used  was  a  big  Webley,  not 
an  easy  thing  to  carry  or  conceal  about  your 
person,  and  undoubtedly  brought  to  the  scene 
of  the  crime  by  the  man  in  the  car.  You  will 
say  that  Merrill,  who  wore  an  overcoat,  might 
have  easily  brought  it  in  his  pocket;  but  the 
absolute  proof  that  that  could  not  have  been 
the  case  is  that  on  his  arrival  by  train  from 
London,  Mr.  Merrill  lost  his  ticket  and  very 
carefully  searched  himself,  a  railway  inspector 
assisting,  to  discover  the  bit  of  pasteboard. 

212 


CASE  AGAINST   FRANK  MERRILL 

He  turned  out  everything  he  had  in  his  pockec 
in  the  inspector's  presence,  and  his  overcoat  — 
the  only  place  where  he  could  have  concealed 
such  a  heavy  weapon  —  was  searched  by  the 
inspector  himself." 

The  detective  nodded. 

"  It  is  a  very  difficult  case,"  he  agreed,  "  and 
one  in  which  I  Ve  no  great  heart ;  for,  to  be 
absolutely  honest,  my  views  are  that  while  it 
might  have  been  Merrill,  the  balance  of  proof 
is  that  it  was  not.  That  is,  of  course,  my  un- 
official view,  and  I  shall  work  pretty  hard  to 
secure  a  conviction." 

"  I  am  sure  you  will,"  said  Mr.  Mann 
heartily. 

"  Must  the  case  go  into  the  court  ?  "  asked 
the  girl  anxiously. 

"  There  is  no  other  way  for  it,"  replied  the 
officer.  "  You  see,  we  have  arrested  him,  and 
unless  something  turns  up  the  magistrate  must 
commit  him  for  trial  on  the  evidence  we  have 
secured." 

"  Poor  Frank !  "  she  said  softly. 
213 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

"  It  is  rough  on  him,  if  he  is  innocent," 
agreed  Nash,  "  but  it  is  lucky  for  him  if  he  's 
guilty.  My  experience  of  crime  and  criminals 
is  that  it  is  generally  the  obvious  man  who  com- 
mits that  crime;  only  once  in  fifty  years  is  he 
innocent,  whether  he  is  acquitted  or  whether 
he  is  found  guilty." 

He  offered  his  hand  to  Mr.  Mann. 

"  I  '11  be  getting  along  now,  sir,"  he  said. 
'*  The  commissioner  asked  me  to  give  you  all 
the  assistance  I  possibly  could,  and  I  hope  I 
have  done  so." 

'''  Wrhat  are  you  doing  in  the  case  of  Jasper 
Cole  ?  "  asked  Mann  quickly. 

The  detective  smiled. 

'  You  ought  to  know,  sir,"  he  said,  and  was 
amused  at  his  own  little  joke. 

:<  Well,  young  lady,"  said  Mann,  turning  to 
the  girl,  after  the  detective  had  gone,  "  I  think 
you  know  how  matters  stand.  Nash  suspects 
Cole." 

"  Jasper !  "  she  said,  in  shocked  surprise. 

"  Jasper,"  he  repeated. 
214 


CASE   AGAINST   FRANK   MERRILL 

"  But  that  is  impossible !  He  was  locked  in 
his  room." 

"  That  does  n't  make  it  impossible.  I  know 
of  fourteen  distinct  cases  of  men  who  com- 
mitted crimes  and  were  able  to  lock  themselves 
in  their  rooms,  leaving  the  key  outside.  There 
was  a  case  of  Henry  Burton,  coiner;  there  was 
William  Francis  Rector,  who  killed  a  warder 
while  in  prison  and  locked  the  cell  upon  himself 
from  the  inside.  There  was —  But  there; 
why  should  I  bother  you  with  instances  ?  That 
kind  of  trick  is  common  enough.  No/'  he  said, 
"  it  is  the  motive  that  we  have  to  find.  Do  you 
still  want  me  to  go  with  you  to-morrow,  Miss 
Nuttall?"  he  asked. 

"  I  should  be  very  glad  if  you  would,"  she 
said  earnestly.  "  Poor,  dear  uncle !  I  did  n't 
think  I  could  ever  enter  the  house  again." 

"  I  can  relieve  your  mind  about  that,"  he 
said.  '  The  will  is  not  to  be  read  in  the  house. 
Mr.  Minute's  lawyers  have  arranged  for  the 
reading  at  their  offices  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields. 
I  have  the  address  here  somewhere." 

215 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

He  fumbled  in  his  pocket  and  took  out  a 
card. 

"  Power,  Commons  &  Co.,"  he  read,  "  194 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  I  will  meet  you  there  at 
three  o'clock." 

He  rumpled  his  untidy  hair  with  an  em- 
barrassed laugh. 

"  I  seem  to  have  drifted  into  the  position  of 
guardian  to  you,  young  lady,"  he  said.  "  I 
can't  say  that  it  is  an  unpleasant  task,  although 
it  is  a  great  responsibility." 

'  You  have  been  splendid,  Mr.  Mann,"  she 
said  warmly,  "  and  I  shall  never  forget  all  you 
have  done  for  me.  Somehow  I  feel  that  Frank 
will  get  off ;  and  I  hope  —  I  pray  that  it  will 
not  be  at  Jasper's  expense." 

He  looked  at  her  in  surprise  and  disappoint- 
ment. 

"  I  thought  —  "  he  stopped. 

'  You  thought  I  was  engaged  to  Frank,  and 
so  I  am,"  she  said,  with  heightened  color. 
"  But  Jasper  is  —  I  hardly  know  how  to  put  it." 

216 


CASE  AGAINST   FRANK  MERRILL 

"  I  see,"  said  Mr.  Mann,  though,  if  the  truth 
be  told,  he  saw  nothing  which  enlightened  him. 

Punctually  at  three  o'clock  the  next  after- 
noon, they  walked  up  the  steps  of  the  lawyers' 
office  together.  Jasper  Cole  was  already  there, 
and  to  Mr.  Mann's  surprise  so  also  was  In- 
spector Nash,  who  explained  his  presence  in 
a  few  words. 

'  There  may  be  something  in  the  will  which 
will  open  a  new  viewpoint,"  he  said. 

Mr.  Power,  the  solicitor,  an  elderly  man, 
inclined  to  rotundity,  was  introduced,  and, 
taking  his  position  before  the  fireplace,  opened 
the  proceedings  with  an  expression  of  regret 
as  to  the  circumstances  which  had  brought 
them  together. 

"  The  will  of  my  late  client,"  he  said,  "  was 
not  drawn  up  by  me.  It  is  written  in  Mr. 
Minute's  handwriting,  and  revokes  the  only 
other  will,  one  which  was  prepared  some  four 
years  ago  and  which  made  provisions  rather 
different  to  those  in  the  present  instrument. 

217 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

This  will "  —  he  took  a  single  sheet  of  paper 
out  of  an  envelope  —  "  was  made  last  year  and 
was  witnessed  by  Thomas  Wellington  Crawley" 
—  he  adjusted  his  pince-nez  and  examined  the 
signature  —  "late  trooper  of  the  Matabele- 
land  mounted  police,  and  by  George  Warrell, 
who  was  Mr.  Minute's  butler  at  the  time. 
Warrell  died  in  the  Eastbourne  hospital  in  the 
spring  of  this  year." 

There  was  a  deep  silence.  Saul  Arthur 
Mann's  face  was  eagerly  thrust  forward,  his 
head  turned  slightly  to  one  side.  Inspector 
Nash  showed  an  unusual  amount  of  interest. 
Both  men  had  the  same  thought  —  a  new  will, 
witnessed  by  two  people,  one  of  whom  was 
dead,  and  the  other  a  fugitive  from  justice; 
what  did  this  will  contain? 

It  was  the  briefest  of  documents.  To  his 
ward  he  left  the  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  "  a  provision  which  was  also  made  in 
the  previous  will,  I  might  add,"  said  the 
lawyer,  and  to  this  he  added  all  his  shares  in 
the  Gwelo  Deep. 

218 


CASE   AGAINST   FRANK   MERRILL 

To  his  nephew,  Francis  Merrill,  he  left 
twenty  thousand  pounds. 

The  lawyer  paused  and  looked  round  the 
little  circle,  and  then  continued : 

"  The  residue  of  my  property,  movable  and 
immovable,  all  my  furniture,  leases,  shares, 
cash  at  bankers,  and  all  interests  whatsoever, 
I  bequeath  to  Jasper  Cole,  so-called,  who  is  at 
present  my  secretary  and  confidential  agent." 

The  detective  and  Saul  Arthur  Mann  ex- 
changed glances,  and  Nash's  lips  moved. 

"  How  is  that  for  a  '  motive '  ? "  he 
whispered. 


219 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE   TRIAL   OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

THE  trial  of  Frank  Merrill  on  the  charge 
that  he  "  did  on  the  twenty-eighth  day 
of  June  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
nine  hundred  —  wilfully  and  wickedly  kill 
and  slay  by  a  pistol  shot  John  Minute  "  was  the 
sensation  of  a  season  which  was  unusually 
prolific  in  murder  trials.  The  trial  took  place 
at  the  Lewes  Assizes  in  a  crowded  courtroom, 
and  lasted,  as  we  know,  for  sixteen  days,  five 
days  of  which  were  given  to  the  examination 
in  chief  and  the  cross-examination  of  the 
accountants  who  had  gone  into  the  books  of  the 
bank. 

The  prosecution  endeavored  to  establish  the 
fact  that  no  other  person  but  Frank  Merrill 
could  have  access  to  the  books,  and  that  there- 
fore no  other  person  could  have  falsified  them 

220 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

or  manipulated  the  transfer  of  moneys.  It 
cannot  be  said  that  the  prosecution  had  wholly 
succeeded;  for  when  Brandon,  the  bank  man- 
ager, was  put  into  the  witness  box  he  was 
compelled  to  admit  that  not  only  Frank,  but  he 
himself  and  Jasper  Cole,  were  in  a  position  to 
reach  the  books. 

The  opening  speech  for  the  crown  had  been 
a  masterly  one.  But  that  there  were  many 
weak  points  in  the  evidence  and  in  the  assump- 
tions which  the  prosecution  drew  was  evident 
to  the  merest  tyro. 

Sir  George  Murphy  Jackson,  the  attorney 
general,  who  prosecuted,  attempted  to  dispose 
summarily  of  certain  conflictions,  and  it  had 
to  be  confessed  that  his  explanations  were  very 
plausible. 

"  The  defense  will  tell  us,"  he  said,  in  that 
shrill,  clarion  tone  of  his  which  has  made  to 
quake  the  hearts  of  so  many  hostile  witnesses, 
"  that  we  have  not  accounted  for  the  fourth 
man  who  drove  up  in  his  car  ten  minutes  after 
Merrill  had  entered  the  house,  and  disappeared, 

221 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

but  I  am  going  to  tell  you  my  theory  of  that 
incident. 

"  Merrill  had  an  accomplice  who  is  not  in 
custody,  and  that  accomplice  is  Rex  Holland. 
Merrill  had  planned  and  prepared  this  murder, 
because  from  some  statement  which  his  uncle 
had  made  he  believed  that  not  only  was  his 
whole  future  dependent  upon  destroying  his 
benefactor  and  silencing  forever  the  one  man 
who  knew  the  extent  of  his  villainy,  but  he  had 
in  his  cold,  shrewd  way  accurately  foreseen  the 
exact  consequence  of  such  a  shooting.  It  was 
a  big  criminal's  big  idea. 

"  He  foresaw  this  trial,"  he  said  impres- 
sively; "  he  foresaw,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  his 
acquittal  at  your  hands.  He  foresaw  a  re- 
action which  would  not  only  give  him  the 
woman  he  professes  to  love,  but  in  consequence 
place  in  his  hands  the  disposal  of  her  con- 
siderable fortune. 

"Why  should  he  shoot  John  Minute?  you 
may  ask;  and  I  reply  to  that  question  with 
another:  What  would  have  happened  had  he 

222 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

not  shot  his  uncle?  He  would  have  been  a 
ruined  man.  The  doors  of  his  uncle's  house 
would  have  been  closed  to  him.  The  legacy 
would  have  been  revoked,  the  marriage  for 
which  he  had  planned  so  long  would  have  been 
an  unrealized  dream. 

"  He  knew  the  extent  of  the  fortune  which 
was  coming  to  Miss  Nuttall.  Mr.  Minute 
made  two  wills,  in  both  of  which  he  left  an 
identical  sum  to  his  ward.  The  first  of  these, 
revoked  by  the  second  and  containing  the 
same  provision,  was  witnessed  by  the  man  in 
the  dock!  He  knew,  too,  that  the  Rhodesian 
gold  mine,  the  shares  of  which  were  held  by 
John  Minute  on  the  girl's  behalf,  was  likely  to 
prove  a  very  rich  proposition,  and  I  suggest 
that  the  information  coming  to  him  as  Mr. 
Minute's  secretary,  he  deliberately  suppressed 
that  information  for  his  own  purpose. 

"  What  had  he  to  gain  ?  I  ask  you  to  believe 
that  if  he  is  acquitted  he  will  have  achieved 
all  that  he  ever  hoped  to  achieve." 

There  was  a  little  murmur  in  the  court. 
223 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Frank  Merrill,  leaning  on  the  ledge  of  the 
dock,  looked  down  at  the  girl  in  the  body  of 
the  court,  and  their  eyes  met.  He  saw  the 
indignation  in  her  face  and  nodded  with  a 
little  smile,  then  turned  again  to  the  counsel 
with  that  eager,  half-quizzical  look  of  interest 
which  the  girl  had  so  often  seen  upon  his 
handsome  face. 

"  Much  will  be  made,  in  the  course  of  this 
trial,  of  the  presence  of  another  man,  and  the 
defense  will  endeavor  to  secure  capital  out  of 
the  fact  that  the  man  Crawley,  who  it  was  sug- 
gested was  in  the  house  for  an  improper  pur- 
pose, has  not  been  discovered.  As  to  the 
fourth  man,  the  driver  of  the  motor  car,  there 
seems  little  doubt  but  that  he  was  an  accom- 
plice of  Merrill.  This  mysterious  Rex  Hol- 
land, who  has  been  identified  by  Mrs.  Totney, 
of  Uckfield,  spent  the  whole  of  the  day  wander- 
ing about  Sussex,  obviously  having  one  plan 
in  his  mind,  which  was  to  arrive  at  Mr. 
Minute's  house  at  the  same  time  as  his  con- 
federate. 

224 


THE   TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

'  You  will  have  the  taxi-driver's  evidence 
that  when  Merrill  stepped  down,  after  being 
driven  from  the  station,  he  looked  left  and 
right,  as  though  he  were  expecting  somebody. 
The  plan  to  some  extent  miscarried.  The  accom- 
plice arrived  ten  minutes  too  late.  On  some 
pretext  or  other  Merrill  probably  left  the 
room.  I  suggest  that  he  did  not  go  into  the 
dining  room,  but  that  he  went  out  into  the 
garden  and  was  met  by  his  accomplice,  who 
handed  him  the  weapon  with  which  this  crime 
was  committed. 

"  It  may  be  asked  by  the  defense  why  the 
accomplice,  who  was  presumably  Rex  Holland, 
did  not  himself  commit  the  crime.  I  could 
offer  two  or  three  alternative  suggestions,  all 
of  which  are  feasible.  The  deceased  man  was 
shot  at  close  quarters,  and  was  found  in  such 
an  attitude  as  to  suggest  that  he  was  wholly 
unprepared  for  the  attack.  We  know  that  he 
was  in  some  fear  and  that  he  invariably  went 
armed ;  yet  it  is  fairly  certain  that  he  made  no 
attempt  to  draw  his  weapon,  which  he  certainly 

225 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

would  have  done  had  he  been  suddenly  con- 
fronted by  an  armed  stranger. 

"  I  do  not  pretend  that  I  am  explaining  the 
strange  relationship  between  Merrill  and  this 
mysterious  forger.  Merrill  is  the  only  man 
who  has  seen  him  and  has  given  a  vague  and 
somewhat  confused  description  of  him.  '  He 
was  a  man  with  a  short,  close-clipped  beard ' 
is  Merrill's  description.  The  woman  who 
served  him  with  tea  near  Uckfield  describes 
him  as  a  '  youngish  man  with  a  dark  mustache, 
but  otherwise  clean  shaven.' 

'  There  is  no  reason,  of  course,  why  he 
should  not  have  removed  his  beard,  but  as 
against  that  suggestion  we  will  call  evidence 
to  prove  that  the  man  seen  driving  with  the 
murdered  chauffeur  was  invariably  a  man  with 
a  mustache  and  no  beard,  so  that  the  balance 
of  probability  is  on  the  side  of  the  supposition 
that  Merrill  is  not  telling  the  truth.  An  un- 
known client  with  a  large  deposit  at  his  bank 
would  not  be  likely  constantly  to  alter  his 
appearance.  If  he  were  a  criminal,  as  we 

226 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

know  him  to  be,  there  would  be  another  reason 
why  he  should  not  excite  suspicion  in  this 
way." 

His  address  covered  the  greater  part  of  a 
day  —  but  he  returned  to  the  scene  in  the 
garden,  to  the  supposed  meeting  of  the  two 
men,  and  to  the  murder. 

Saul  Arthur  Mann,  sitting  with  Frank's 
solicitor,  scratched  his  nose  and  grinned. 

"  I  have  never  heard  a  more  ingenious 
piece  of  reconstruction,"  he  said ;  "  though,  of 
course,  the  whole  thing  is  palpably  absurd." 

As  a  theory  it  was  no  doubt  excellent;  but 
men  are  not  sentenced  to  death  on  theories, 
however  ingenious  they  may  be.  Probably 
nobody  in  the  court  so  completely  admired  the 
ingenuity  as  the  man  most  affected.  At  the 
lunch  interval  on  the  day  on  which  this  theory 
was  put  forward  he  met  his  solicitor  and  Saul 
Arthur  Mann  in  the  bare  room  in  which  such 
interviews  are  permitted. 

"  It  was  really  fascinating  to  hear  him," 
said  Frank,  as  he  sipped  the  cup  of  tea  which 

227 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

they  had  brought  him.  "  I  almost  began  to 
believe  that  I  had  committed  the  murder !  But 
isn't  it  rather  alarming?  Will  the  jury  take 
the  same  view  ?  "  he  asked,  a  little  troubled. 

The  solicitor  shook  his  head. 

"  Unsupported  theories  of  that  sort  do  not 
go  well  with  juries,  and,  of  course,  the  whole 
story  is  so  flimsy  and  so  improbable  that  it 
will  go  for  no  more  than  a  piece  of  clever 
reasoning." 

"  Did  anybody  see  you  at  the  railway 
station?" 

Frank  shook  his  head. 

"  I  suppose  hundreds  of  people  saw  me,  but 
would  hardly  remember  me." 

"  Was  there  any  one  on  the  tram  who  knew 
you?" 

"  No,"  said  Frank,  after  a  moment's  thought. 
"  There  were  six  people  in  my  carriage  until 
we  got  to  Lewes,  but  I  think  I  told  you  that, 
and  you  have  not  succeeded  in  tracing  any  of 
them." 

"  It  is  moet  difficult  to  get  into  touch  with 
228 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK   MERRILL 

those  people,"  said  the  lawyer.  '  Think  of 
the  scores  of  people  one  travels  with,  without 
ever  remembering  what  they  looked  like  or 
how  they  were  dressed.  If  you  had  been  a 
woman,  traveling  with  women,  every  one  of 
your  five  fellow  passengers  would  have  remem- 
bered you  and  would  have  recalled  your  hat." 

Frank  laughed. 

'  There  are  certain  disadvantages  in  being 
a  man,"  he  said.  "  How  do  you  think  the  case 
is  going  ? " 

"  They  have  offered  no  evidence  yet.  I 
think  you  will  agree,  Mr.  Mann,"  he  said 
respectfully,  for  Saul  Arthur  Mann  was  a 
power  in  legal  circles. 

"  None  at  all,"  the  little  fellow  agreed. 

Frank  recalled  the  first  day  he  had  seen  him, 
with  his  hat  perched  on  the  back  of  his  head 
and  his  shabby,  genteel  exterior. 

"  Oh,  by  Jove !  "  he  said.  "  I  suppose  they 
will  be  trying  to  fasten  the  death  of  that  man 
upon  me  that  we  saw  in  Gray  Square." 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  nodded. 
229 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

r<  They  have  not  put  that  in  the  indictment," 
he  said,  "  nor  the  case  of  the  chauffeur.  You 
see,  your  conviction  will  rest  entirely  upon  this 
present  charge,  and  both  the  other  matters  are 
subsidiary." 

Frank  walked  thoughtfully  up  and  down  the 
room,  his  hands  behind  his  back. 

"  I  wonder  who  Rex  Holland  is,"  he  said, 
half  to  himself. 

'  You  still  haye  your  theory  ?  "  asked  the 
lawyer,  eying  him  keenly. 

Frank  nodded. 

"  And  you  still  would  rather  not  put  it  into 
words  ?  " 

"  Much  rather  not,"  said  Frank  gravely. 

He  returned  to  the  court  and  glanced  round 
for  the  girl,  but  she  was  not  there.  The  rest 
of  the  afternoon's  proceedings,  taken  up  as 
they  were  with  the  preliminaries  of  the  case, 
bored  him. 

It  was  on  the  twelfth  day  of  the  trial  that 
Jasper  Cole  stepped  on  to  the  witness  stand. 
He  was  dressed  in  black  and  was  paler  than 

230 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

usual,  but  he  took  the  oath  in  a  firm  voice  and 
answered  the  questions  which  were  put  to  him 
without  hesitation. 

The  story  of  Frank's  quarrel  with  his  uncle, 
of  the  forged  checks,  and  of  his  own  experience 
on  the  night  of  the  crime  filled  the  greater  part 
of  the  forenoon,  and  it  was  in  the  afternoon 
when  Bryan  Bennett,  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
barristers  of  his  time,  stood  up  to  cross- 
examine. 

"  Had  you  any  suspicion  that  your  employer 
was  being  robbed  ?  " 

"  I  had  a  suspicion,"  replied  Jasper. 

"  Did  you  communicate  your  suspicion  to 
your  employer  ?  " 

Jasper  hesitated. 

"  No,"  he  replied  at  last 

"  Why  do  you  hesitate  ?  "  asked  Bennett 
sharply. 

"  Because,  although  I  did  not  directly  com- 
municate my  suspicions,  I  hinted  to  Mr.  Minute 
that  he  should  have  an  independent  audit." 

"  So  you  thought  the  books  were  wrong?  " 
231 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

"  I  did." 

"  In  these  circumstances,"  asked  Bennett 
slowly,  "  do  you  not  think  it  was  very  unwise 
of  you  to  touch  those  books  yourself  ?  " 

"  When  did  I  touch  them  ?  "  asked  Jasper 
quickly. 

"  I  suggest  that  on  a  certain  night  you  came 
to  the  bank  and  remained  in  the  bank  by  your- 
self, examining  the  ledgers  on  behalf  of  your 
employer,  and  that  during  that  time  you 
handled  at  least  three  books  in  which  these 
falsifications  were  made." 

'  That  is  quite  correct,"  said  Jasper,  after 
a  moment's  thought ;  "  but  my  suspicions  were 
general  and  did  not  apply  to  any  particular 
group  of  books." 

"  But  did  you  not  think  it  was  dangerous  ?  " 

Again  the  hesitation. 

"  It  may  have  been  foolish,  and  if  I  had 
known  how  matters  were  developing  I  should 
certainly  not  have  touched  them." 

"  You  do  admit  that  there  were  several 
periods  of  time  from  seven  in  the  evening  until 

232 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILE 

nine  and  from  nine-thirty  until  eleven-fifteen 
when  you  were  absolutely  alone  in  the  bank?  " 

"  That  is  true,"  said  Jasper. 

"  And  during  those  periods  you  could,  had 
you  wished  and  had  you  been  a  forger,  for 
example,  or  had  you  any  reason  for  falsifying 
the  entries,  have  made  those  falsifications  ?  " 

"  I  admit  there  was  time,"  said  Jasper. 

r<  Would  you  describe  yourself  as  a  friend 
of  Frank  Merrill's?" 

"  Not  a  close  friend,"  replied  Jasper. 

"Did  you  like  him?" 

"  I  cannot  say  that  I  was  fond  of  him,"  was 
the  reply. 

"  He  was  a  rival  of  yours  ?  " 

"  In  what  respect?  " 

Counsel  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  He  was  very  fond  of  Miss  Nuttall." 

"  Yes." 

"  And  she  was  fond  of  him  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Did  you  not  aspire  to  pay  your  addresses 
to  Miss  Nuttall?" 

233 


THE   MAN   WHO    KNEW 

Jasper  Cole  looked  down  to  the  girl,  and 
May  averted  her  eyes.  Her  cheeks  were 
burning  and  she  had  a  wild  desire  to  flee 
from  the  court. 

"  If  you  mean  did  I  love  Miss  Nuttall,"  said 
Jasper  Cole,  in  his  quiet,  even  tone,  "  I  reply 
that  I  did." 

'  You  even  secured  the  active  support  of 
Mr.  Minute?" 

"  I  never  urged  the  matter  with  Mr.  Minute," 
said  Jasper. 

"  So  that  if  he  moved  on  your  behalf  he  did 
so  without  your  knowledge  ?  " 

'  Without  my  pre-knowledge,"  corrected  the 
witness.  "  He  told  me  afterward  that  he  had 
spoken  to  Miss  Nuttall,  and  I  was  considerably 
embarrassed." 

"  I  understand  you  were  a  man  of  curious 
habits,  Mr.  Cole." 

'  We  are  all  people  of  curious  habits," 
smiled  the  witness. 

"  But  you  in  particular.  You  were  an  Ori- 
entalist, I  believe  ?  " 

234 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

"  I  have  studied  Oriental  languages  and 
customs,"  said  Jasper  shortly. 

"  Have  you  ever  extended  your  study  to  the 
realm  of  hypnotism  ?  " 

"  I  have,"  replied  the  witness. 

"  Have  you  ever  made  experiments?  " 

"  On  animals,  yes." 

"  On  human  beings  ?  " 

"  No,  I  have  never  made  experiments  on 
human  beings." 

"  Have  you  also  made  a  study  of  narcotics?  " 

The  lawyer  leaned  forward  over  the  table 
and  looked  at  the  witness  between  half-closed 
eyes. 

"  I  have  made  experiments  with  narcotic 
herbs  and  plants,"  said  Jasper,  after  a  mo- 
ment's hesitation.  "  I  think  you  should  know 
that  the  career  which  was  planned  for  me  was 
that  of  a  doctor,  and  I  have  always  been  very 
interested  in  the  effects  of  narcotics." 

"  You  know  of  a  drug  called  cannabis 
indica?"  asked  the  counsel,  consulting  his 
paper. 

235 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  Yes ;  it  is  '  Indian  hemp.'  " 

"  Is  there  an  infusion  of  cannabis  indica  to 
be  obtained?  " 

"  I  do  not  think  there  is,"  said  the  other. 
"  I  can  probably  enlighten  you  because  I  see 
now  the  trend  of  your  examination.  I  once 
told  Frank  Merrill,  many  years  ago,  when  I 
was  very  enthusiastic,  that  an  infusion  of 
cannabis  indica,  combined  with  tincture  of 
opium  and  hyocine,  produced  certain  effects." 

"  It  is  inclined  to  sap  the  will  power  of  a  man 
or  a  woman  who  is  constantly  absorbing  this 
poison  in  small  doses?  "  suggested  tl^t  counsel. 

"  That  is  so." 

The  counsel  now  switched  off  on  a  new 
tack. 

"  Do  you  know  the  East  of  London?  " 

"Yes,  slightly." 

"  Do  you  know  Silvers  Rents  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Do  you  ever  go  to  Silvers  Rents  ?  " 

"  Yes;  I  go  there  very  regularly." 

The  readiness  of  the  reply  astonished  both 
236 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

Frank  and  the  girl.  She  had  been  feeling  more 
and  more  uncomfortable  as  the  cross-examina- 
tion continued,  and  had  a  feeling  that  she  had 
in  some  way  betrayed  Jasper  Cole's  confidence. 
She  had  listened  to  the  cross-examination 
which  revealed  Jasper  as  a  scientist  with 
something  approaching  amazement.  She  had 
known  of  the  laboratory,  but  had  associated 
the  place  with  those  entertaining  experiments 
that  an  idle  dabbler  in  chemistry  might  under- 
take. 

For  a  moment  she  doubted,  and  searched  her 
mind  for  some  occasion  when  he  had  prac- 
ticed his  medical  knowledge.  Dimly  she  real- 
ized that  there  had  been  some  such  occasion, 
and  then  she  remembered  that  it  had  always 
been  Jasper  Cole  who  had  concocted  the 
strange  drafts  which  had  so  relieved  the 
headache  to  which,  when  she  was  a  little 
younger,  she  had  been  something  of  a  martyr. 
Could  he  —  She  struggled  hard  to  dismiss 
the  thought  as  being  unworthy  of  her;  and 
now,  when  the  object  of  his  visits  to  Silvers 

237 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Rents  was  under  examination,  she  found  her 
curiosity  growing. 

:i  Why  did  you  go  to  Silvers  Rents  ?  " 

There  was  no  answer. 

"  I  will  repeat  my  question :  With  what 
object  did  you  go  to  Silvers  Rents  ?  " 

"  I  decline  to  answer  that  question,"  said 
the  man  in  the  box  coolly.  "  I  merely  tell  you 
that  I  went  there  frequently." 

"  And  you  refuse  to  say  why?  " 

"  I  refuse  to  say  why,"  repeated  the  witness. 

The  judge  on  the  bench  made  a  little  note. 

"  I  put  it  to  you,"  said  counsel,  speaking 
impressively,  "  that  it  was  in  Silvers  Rents 
that  you  took  on  another  identity." 

'  That  is  probably  true,"  said  the  other,  and 
the  girl  gasped;  he  was  so  cool,  so  self-pos- 
sessed, so  sure  of  himself. 

"  I  suggest  to  you,"  the  counsel  went  on, 
"  that  in  those  Rents  Jasper  Cole  became  Rex 
Holland." 

There  was  a  buzz  of  excitement,  a  sudden 
238 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

soft  clamor  of  voices  through  which  the  usher's 
harsh  demand  for  silence  cut  like  a  knife. 

'  Your  suggestion  is  an  absurd  one,"  said 
Jasper,  without  heat,  "  and  I  presume  that  you 
are  going  to  produce  evidence  to  support  so 
infamous  a  statement." 

'  What  evidence  I  produce,"  said  counsel, 
with  asperity,  "  is  a  matter  for  me  to  decide." 

"  It  is  also  a  matter  for  the  witness,"  inter- 
posed the  soft  voice  of  the  judge.  "  As  you 
have  suggested  that  Holland  was  a  party  to 
the  murder,  and  as  you  are  inferring  that  Rex 
Holland  is  Jasper  Cole,  it  is  presumed  that 
you  will  call  evidence  to  support  so  serious  a 
charge." 

"  I  am  not  prepared  to  call  evidence,  my 
lord,  and  if  your  lordship  thinks  the  question 
should  not  have  been  put  I  am  willing  to  with- 
draw it." 

The  judge  nodded  and  turned  his  head  to  the 
jury. 

"  You  will   consider   that  question  as  not 

239 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

having  been  put,  gentlemen,"  he  said.  "  Doubt- 
less counsel  is  trying  to  establish  the  fact  that 
one  person  might  just  as  easily  have  been  Rex 
Holland  as  another.  There  is  no  suggestion 
that  Mr.  Cole  went  to  Silvers  Rents  —  which 
I  understand  is  in  a  very  poor  neighborhood  — 
with  any  illegal  intent,  or  that  he  was  com- 
mitting any  crime  or  behaving  in  any  way 
improperly  by  paying  such  frequent  visits. 
There  may  be  something  in  the  witness's  life 
associated  with  that  poor  house  which  has  no 
bearing  on  the  case  and  which  he  does  not 
desire  should  be  ventilated  in  this  court.  It 
happens  to  many  of  us,"  the  judge  went  on, 
"  that  we  have  associations  which  it  would 
embarrass  us  to  reveal." 

This  little  incident  closed  that  portion  of  the 
cross-examination,  and  counsel  went  on  to  the 
night  of  the  murder. 

"  When  did  you  come  to  the  house  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"  I  came  to  the  house  soon  after  dark." 

"  Had  you  been  in  London  ?  " 
240 


THE    TRIAL    OF    FRANK    MERRILL 

"Yes;  I  walked  from  Bexhill." 

"  It  was  dark  when  you  arrived  ?  " 

"  Yes,  nearly  dark." 

"  The  servants  had  all  gone  out  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"Was  Mr.  Minute  pleased  to  see  you?" 

"  Yes ;  he  had  expected  me  earlier  in  the 
day." 

"  Did  he  tell  you  that  his  nephew  was  coming 
to  see  him  ?  " 

"  I  knew  that." 

'  You  say  he  suggested  that  you  should 
make  yourself  scarce  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  And  as  you  had  a  headache,  you  went  up- 
stairs and  lay  down  on  your  bed  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

''  What  were  you  doing  in  Bexhill  ?  " 

"  I  came  down  from  town  and  got  into  the 
wrong  portion  of  the  train." 

A  junior  leaned  over  and  whispered  quickly 
to  his  leader. 

"  I  see,  I  see,"  said  the  counsel  petulantly. 
241 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

'  Your  ticket  was  found  at  Bexhill.  Have  you 
ever  seen  Mr.  Rex  Holland  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Never." 

'  You  have  never  met  any  person  of  that 
name  ?  " 

"  Never." 

In  this  tame  way  the  cross-examination 
closed,  as  cross-examinations  have  a  habit  of 
doing. 

By  the  time  the  final  addresses  of  counsel 
had  ended,  and  the  judge  had  finished  a  mas- 
terly summing-up,  there  was  no  doubt  what- 
ever in  the  mind  of  any  person  in  the  court  as 
to  what  the  verdict  would  be.  The  jury  was 
absent  from  the  box  for  twenty  minutes  and 
returned  a  verdict  of  "  Not  guilty ! " 

The  judge  discharged  Frank  Merrill  with- 
out comment,  and  he  left  the  court  a  free  but 
ruined  man. 


242 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE    MAN   WHO    CAME   TO    MONTREUX 

IT  was  two  months  after  the  great  trial,  on 
a  warm  day  in  October,  when  Frank  Mer- 
rill stepped  ashore  from  the  big  white  paddle 
boat  which  had  carried  him  across  Lake  Leman 
from  Lausanne,  and,  handing  his  bag  to  a 
porter,  made  his  way  to  the  hotel  omnibus.  He 
looked  at  his  watch.  It  pointed  to  a  quarter 
to  four,  and  May  was  not  due  to  arrive  until 
half  past.  He  went  to  his  hotel,  washed  and 
changed  and  came  down  to  the  vestibule  to 
inquire  if  the  instructions  he  had  telegraphed 
had  been  carried  out. 

May  was  arriving  in  company  with  Saul 
Arthur  Mann,  who  was  taking  one  of  his  rare 
holidays  abroad.  Frank  had  only  seen  the 
girl  once  since  the  day  of  the  trial.  He  had 
come  to  breakfast  on  the  following  morning, 
and  very  little  had  been  said.  He  was  due  to 

243 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

leave  that  afternoon  for  the  Continent.  He 
had  a  little  money,  sufficient  for  his  needs,  and 
Jasper  Cole  had  offered  no  suggestion  that  he 
would  dispute  the  will,  in  so  far  as  it  affected 
Frank.  So  he  had  gone  abroad  and  had  idled 
away  two  months  in  France,  Spain,  and  Italy, 
and  had  then  made  his  leisurely  way  back  to 
Switzerland  by  way  of  Maggiore. 

He  had  grown  a  little  graver,  was  a  little 
more  set  in  his  movements,  but  he  bore  upon 
his  face  no  mark  to  indicate  the  mental  agony 
through  which  he  must  have  passed  in  that 
long-drawn-out  and  wearisome  trial.  So 
thought  the  girl  as  she  came  through  the  swing 
doors  of  the  hotel,  passed  the  obsequious  hotel 
servants,  and  greeted  him  in  the  big  palm 
court. 

If  she  saw  any  change  in  him  he  remarked 
a  development  in  her  which  was  a  little  short 
of  wonderful.  She  was  at  that  age  when  the 
woman  is  breaking  through  the  beautiful 
chrysalis  of  girlhood.  In  those  two  months 
a  remarkable  change  had  come  over  her,  a 

244 


MAN   WHO   CAME  TO   MONTREUX 

change  which  he  could  not  for  the  moment 
define,  for  this  phenomenon  of  development 
had  been  denied  to  his  experience. 

"  Why,  May,"  he  said,  "  you  are  quite  old.'* 

She  laughed,  and  again  he  noticed  the 
change.  The  laugh  was  richer,  sweeter,  purer 
than  the  bubbling  treble  he  had  known. 

'  You  are  not  getting  complimentary,  are 
you  ?  "  she  asked. 

She  was  exquisitely  dressed,  and  had  that 
poise  which  few  Englishwomen  achieve.  She 
had  the  art  of  wearing  clothes,  and  from  the 
flimsy  crest  of  her  toque  to  the  tips  of  her  little 
feet  she  was  all  that  the  most  exacting  critic 
could  desire.  There  are  well-dressed  women 
who  are  no  more  than  mannequins.  There  are 
fine  ladies  who  cannot  be  mistaken  for  any- 
thing but  fine  ladies,  whose  dresses  are  a  horror 
and  an  abomination  and  whose  expressed  tastes 
are  execrable. 

May  Nuttall  was  a  fine  lady,  finely  ap- 
pareled. 

'  When   you   have   finished   admiring   me, 

245 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Frank,"  she  said,  "  tell  us  what  you  have  been 
doing.  But  first  of  all  let  us  have  some  tea. 
You  know  Mr.  Mann  ?  " 

The  little  investigator  beaming  in  the  back- 
ground took  Frank's  hand  and  shook  it  heartily. 
He  was  dressed  in  what  he  thought  was  an 
appropriate  costume  for  a  mountainous  coun- 
try. His  boots  were  stout,  the  woolen  stock- 
ings which  covered  his  very  thin  legs  were  very 
woolen,  and  his  knickerbocker  suit  was  war- 
ranted to  stand  wear  and  tear.  He  had  aban- 
doned his  top  hat  for  a  large  golf  cap,  which 
was  perched  rakishly  over  one  eye.  Frank 
looked  round  apprehensively  for  Saul  Arthur's 
alpenstock,  and  was  relieved  when  he  failed  to 
discover  one. 

The  girl  threw  off  her  fur  wrap  and  un- 
buttoned her  gloves  as  the  waiter  placed  the 
big  silver  tray  on  the  table  before  her. 

"  I  'm  afraid  I  have  not  much  to  tell,"  said 
Frank  in  answer  to  her  question.  "  I  've  just 
been  loafing  around.  What  is  your  news  ?  " 

"  What  is  my  news  ?  "  she  asked.  "  I  don't 
246 


MAN   WHO   CAME  TO   MONTREUX 

think  I  have  any,  except  that  everything  is 
going  very  smoothly  in  England,  and,  oh, 
Frank,  I  am  so  immensely  rich ! " 

He  smiled. 

"  The  appropriate  thing  would  be  to  say  that 
I  am  immensely  poor,"  he  said,  "  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact  I  am  not.  I  went  down  to  Aix 
and  won  quite  a  lot  of  money." 

"Won  it?"  she  said. 

He  nodded  with  an  amused  little  smile. 

'  You  would  n't  have  thought  I  was  a  gam- 
bler, would  you  ?  "  he  asked  solemnly.  "  I 
don't  think  I  am,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  but  some- 
how I  wanted  to  occupy  my  mind." 

"  I  tinderstand,"  she  said  quickly. 

Another  little  pause  while  she  poured  out 
the  tea,  which  afforded  Saul  Arthur  Mann  an 
opportunity  of  firing  off  fifty  facts  about 
Geneva  in  as  many  sentences. 

'What  has  happened  to  Jasper?"  asked 
v  Frank  after  a  while. 

The  girl  flushed  a  little. 

"  Oh,  Jasper,"  she  said  awkwardly,  "  I  see 
247 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

him,  you  know.  He  has  become  more  mys- 
terious than  ever,  quite  like  one  of  those 
wicked  people  one  reads  about  in  sensational 
stories.  He  has  a  laboratory  somewhere  in 
the  country,  and  he  does  quite  a  lot  of  motor- 
ing. I  've  seen  him  several  times  at  Brighton, 
for  instance." 

Frank  nodded  slowly. 

"  I  should  think  that  he  was  a  good  driver," 
he  said. 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  looked  up  and  met  his 
eye  with  a  smile  which  was  lost  upon  the  girl. 

"  He  has  been  kind  to  me,"  she  said  hesi- 
tatingly. 

"  Does  he  ever  speak  about  —  " 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  I  don't  want  to  think  about  that,"  she  said ; 
"please  don't  let  us  talk  about  it." 

He  knew  she  was  referring  to  John  Minute's 
death,  and  changed  the  conversation. 

A  few  minutes  later  he  had  an  opportunity 
of  speaking  with  Mr.  Mann. 

"  What  is  the  news  ?  "  he  asked. 
248 


MAN   WHO   CAME   TO   MONTREUX 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  looked  round. 

"  I  think  we  are  getting  near  the  truth,"  he 
said,  dropping  his  voice.  "  One  of  my  men 
has  had  him  under  observation  ever  since  the 
day  of  the  trial.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  is 
really  a  brilliant  chemist." 

"Have  you  a  theory?" 

"  I  have  several,"  said  Mr.  Mann.  "  I  am 
perfectly  satisfied  that  the  unfortunate  fellow 
we  saw  together  on  the  occasion  of  our  first 
meeting  was  Rex  Holland's  servant.  I  was  as 
certain  that  he  was  poisoned  by  a  very  power- 
ful poisoning.  When  your  trial  was  on  the 
body  was  exhumed  and  examined,  and  the 
presence  of  that  drug  was  discovered.  It  was 
the  same  as  that  employed  in  the  case  of  the 
chauffeur.  Obviously,  Rex  Holland  is  a  clever 
chemist.  I  wanted  to  see  you  about  that.  He 
said  at  the  trial  that  he  had  discussed  such 
matters  with  you." 

Frank  nodded. 

"  We  used  to  have  quite  long  talks  about 
drugs,"  he  said.  "  I  have  recalled  many  of 

249 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

those  conversations  since  the  day  of  the  trial. 
He  even  fired  me  with  his  enthusiasm,  and  I 
used  to  assist  him  in  his  little  experiments,  and 
obtained  quite  a  working  knowledge  of  these 
particular  elements.  Unfortunately  I  cannot 
remember  very  much,  for  my  enthusiasm  soon 
died,  and  beyond  the  fact  that  he  employed 
hyocine  and  Indian  hemp  I  have  only  the 
dimmest  recollection  of  any  of  the  constituents 
he  employed." 

Saul  Arthur  nodded  energetically. 

"  I  shall  have  more  to  tell  you  later,  per- 
haps," he  said,  "  but  at  present  my  inquiries 
are  shaping  quite  nicely.  He  is  going  to  be  a 
.difficult  man  to  catch,  because,  if  all  I  believe 
is  true,  he  is  one  of  the  most  cold-blooded  and 
calculating  men  it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to 
meet  —  and  I  have  met  a  few,"  he  added 
grimly. 

When  he  said  men  Frank  knew  that  he  had 
meant  criminals. 

:<  We  are  probably  doing  him  a  horrible  in- 
justice," he  smiled.     ' '  Poor  old  Jasper !  " 

250 


MAN   WHO   CAME  TO   MONTREUX 

"  You  are  not  cut  out  for  police  work," 
snapped  Saul  Arthur  Mann ;  "  you  Ve  too 
many  sympathies." 

"  I  don't  exactly  sympathize,"  rejoined 
Frank,  "  but  I  just  pity  him  in  a  way." 

Again  Mr.  Mann  looked  round  cautiously 
and  again  lowered  his  voice,  which  had  risen. 

"  There  is  one  thing  I  want  to  talk  to  you 
about.  It  is  rather  a  delicate  matter,  Mr. 
Merrill,"  he  said. 

"Fire  ahead!" 

"  It  is  about  Miss  Nuttall.  She  has  seen  a 
lot  of  our  friend  Jasper,  and  after  every  inter- 
view she  seems  to  grow  more  and  more  reliant 
upon  his  help.  Once  or  twice  she  has  been 
embarrassed  when  I  have  spoken  about  Jasper 
Cole  and  has  changed  the  subject." 

Frank  pursed  his  lips  thoughtfully,  and  a 
hard  little  look  came  into  his  eyes,  which  did 
not  promise  well  for  Jasper. 

"  So  that  is  it,"  he  said,  and  shrugged  his 
shoulders.  "  If  she  cares  for  him,  it  is  not  my 
business." 

251 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  But  it  is  your  business,"  said  the  other 
sharply.  "  She  was  fond  enough  of  you  to 
offer  to  marry  you." 

Further  talk  was  cut  short  by  the  arrival  of 
the  girl.  Their  meeting  at  Geneva  had  been 
to  some  extent  a  chance  one.  She  was  going 
through  to  Chamonix  to  spend  the  winter,  and 
Saul  Arthur  Mann  seized  the  opportunity  of 
taking  a  short  and  pleasant  holiday.  Hearing 
that  Frank  was  in  Switzerland,  she  had  tele- 
graphed him  to  meet  her. 

"  Are  you  staying  any  time  in  Switzer- 
land?" she  asked  him  as  they  strolled  along 
the  beautiful  quay. 

"  I  am  going  back  to  London  to-night,"  he 
replied. 

'  To-night,"  she  said  in  surprise. 

He  nodded. 

"  But  I  am  staying  here  for  two  or  three 
days,"  she  protested. 

"I  intended  also  staying  for  two  or  three 
days,"  he  smiled,  "but  my  business  will  IK/ 
wait." 

252 


MAN  WHO  CAME  TO  MONTREUX 

Nevertheless,  she  persuaded  him  to  stay 
till  the  morrow. 

They  were  at  breakfast  when  the  morning 
mail  was  delivered,  and  Frank  noted  that  she 
went  rapidly  through  the  dozen  letters  which 
came  to  her,  and  she  chose  one  for  first  read- 
ing. He  could  not  help  but  see  that  that  bore 
an  English  stamp,  and  his  long  acquaintance 
with  the  curious  calligraphy  of  Jasper  Cole 
left  him  in  no  doubt  as  to  who  was  the  corre- 
spondent. He  saw  with  what  eagerness  she 
read  the  letter,  the  little  look  of  disappoint- 
ment when  she  turned  to  an  inside  sheet  and 
found  that  it  had  not  been  filled,  and  his  mind 
was  made  up.  He  had  a  post  also,  which  he 
examined  with  some  evidence  of  impatience. 

'  Your  mail  is  not  so  nice  as  mine,"  said 
the  girl  with  a  smile. 

"  It  is  not  nice  at  all,"  he  grumbled;  "  the 
one  thing  I  wanted,  and,  to  be  very  truthful, 
May,  the  one  inducement  —  " 

"  To  stay  over  the  night,"  she  added,  "  was 
-what?" 

253 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

"  I  have  been  trying  to  buy  a  house  on  the 
lake,"  he  said,  "  and  the  infernal  agent  at 
Lausanne  promised  to  write  telling  me 
whether  my  terms  had  been  agreed  to  by  his 
client." 

He  looked  down  at  the  table  and  frowned. 
Saul  Arthur  Mann  had  a  great  and  extensive 
knowledge  of  human  nature.  He  had  re- 
marked the  disappointment  on  Frank's  face, 
having  identified  also  the  correspondent 
whose  letter  claimed  priority  of  attention. 
He  knew  that  Frank's  anger  with  the  house 
agent  was  very  likely  the  expression  of  his 
anger  in  quite  another  direction. 

"  Can  I  send  the  letter  on?  "  suggested  the 
girl. 

'  That  won't  help  me,"  said  Frank,  with  a 
little  grimace.  "  I  wanted  to  settle  the  busi- 
ness this  week." 

"  I  have  it,"  she  said.  "  I  will  open  the  letter 
and  telegraph  to  you  in  Paris  whether  the 
terms  are  accepted  or  not." 

Frank  laughed. 

"  It  hardly  seems  worth  that,"  he  said,  "  but 
254 


MAN   WHO   CAME  TO   MONTREUX 

I  should  take  K  as  awfully  kind  of  you  if  you 
would,  May." 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  believed  in  his  mind  that 
Frank  did  not  care  tuppence  whether  the  agent 
accepted  the  terms  or  not,  but  that  he  had 
taken  this  as  a  Heaven-sent  opportunity  for 
veiling  his  annoyance. 

"  You  have  had  quite  a  large  mail,  Miss 
Nuttall,"  he  said. 

"  I  've  only  opened  one,  though.  It  is  from 
Jasper,"  she  said  hurriedly. 

Again  both  men  noticed  the  faint  flush,  the 
strange,  unusual  light  which  came  to  her  eyes. 

"  And  where  does  Jasper  write  from  ? " 
asked  Frank,  steadying  his  voice. 

"  He  writes  from  England,  but  he  was  going 
on  the  Continent  to  Holland  the  day  he  wrote," 
she  said.  "  It  is  funny  to  think  that  he  is 
here." 

"  In  Switzerland  ?  "  asked  Frank  in  surprise. 

"  Don't  be  silly,"  she  laughed.  "  No,  I  mean 
on  the  mainland  —  I  mean  there  is  no  sea 
between  us." 

255 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

She  went  crimson. 

"  It  sounds  thrilling,"  said  Frank  dryly. 

She  flashed  round  at  him. 

"  You  must  n't  be  horrid  about  Jasper," 
she  said  quickly;  "  he  never  speaks  about  you 
unkindly." 

"  I  don't  see  why  he  should,"  said  Frank; 
"  but  let 's  get  off  a  subject  which  is  —  " 

"  Which  is  —  what?  "  she  challenged. 

"  Which  is  controversial,"  said  Frank  dip- 
lomatically. 

She  came  down  to  the  station  to  see  him  off. 
As  he  looked  out  of  the  window,  waving  his 
farwells,  he  thought  he  had  never  seen  a.  more 
lovely  being  or  one  more  desirable. 

It  was  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day  which 
saw  Frank  Merrill  speeding  toward  the  Swiss 
frontier  and  Paris  that  Mr.  Rex  Holland 
strode  into  the  Palace  Hotel  at  Montreux  and 
seated  himself  at  a  table  in  the  restaurant. 
The  hour  was  late  and  the  room  was  almost 
deserted.  Giovanni,  the  head  waiter,  recog- 
nized him  and  came  hurriedly  across  the  room. 

256 


MAN  WHO  CAME  TO  MONTREUX 

"  Ah,  m'sieur,"  he  said,  "  you  are  back  from 
England.  I  did  n't  expect  you  till  the  winter 
sports  had  started.  Is  Paris  very  dull  ?  " 

"  I  did  n't  come  through  Paris,"  said  the 
other  shortly;  "  there  are  many  roads  leading 
to  Switzerland." 

"  But  few  pleasant  roads,  m'sieur.  I  have 
come  to  Montreux  by  all  manner  of  ways  — 
from  Paris,  through  Pontarlier,  through  Os- 
tend,  Brussels,  through  the  Hook  of  Holland 
and  Amsterdam,  but  Paris  is  the  only  way  for 
the  man  who  is  flying  to  this  beautiful  land." 

The  man  at  the  table  said  nothing,  scan- 
ning the  menu  carefully.  He  looked  tired  as 
one  who  had  taken  a  very  long  journey. 

"It  may  interest  you  to  know,"  he  said, 
after  he  had  given  his  order  and  as  Giovanni 
was  turning  away,  "  that  I  came  by  the  long- 
est route.  Tell  me,  Giovanni,  have  you  a  man 
called  Merrill  staying  at  the  hotel?" 

"  No,  m'sieur,"  said  the  other.  "  Is  he  a 
friend  of  yours?  " 

Mr.  Rex  Holland  smiled. 
257 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  In  a  sense  he  is  a  friend,  in  a  sense  he  is 
not,"  he  said  flippantly,  and  offered  no  further 
enlightenment,  although  Giovanni  waited  with 
a  deferential  cock  of  his  head. 

Later,  when  he  had  finished  his  modest 
dinner,  he  strolled  into  the  one  long  street  of 
the  town,  returning  to  the  writing  room  of  the 
hotel  with  a  number  of  papers  which  included 
the  visitors'  list,  a  publication  printed  in  Eng- 
lish, and  which,  as  it  related  the  comings  and 
goings  of  visitors,  not  only  to  Lausanne,  Mon- 
treux,  and  Teritet,  but  also  to  Evian  and 
Geneva,  enjoyed  a  fair  circulation.  He  sat 
at  the  table,  and,  drawing  a  sheet  of  paper 
from  the  rack,  wrote,  addressed  an  envelope 
to  Frank  Merrill,  esquire,  Hotel  de  France, 
Geneva,  slipped  it  into  the  hotel  pillar  box, 
and  went  to  bed. 

'  There  's  a  letter  here  for  Frank,"  said  the 
girl.    "  I  wonder  if  it  is  from  his  agent." 

She  examined  the  envelope,  which  bore  the 
Montreux  postmark. 

258 


MAN   WHO   CAME  TO   MONTREUX 

"  I  should  imagine  it  is,"  said  Saul  Arthur 
Mann. 

"  Well,  I  am  going  to  open  it,  anyway,"  said 
the  girl.  "  Poor  Frank !  He  will  be  in  a  state 
of  suspense." 

She  tore  open  the  envelope,  and  took  out  a 
letter.  Mr.  Mann  saw  her  face  go  white,  and 
the  letter  trembled  in  her  hand.  Without  a 
word  she  passed  it  to  him,  and  he  read : 

"  Dear  Frank  Merrill,"  said  the  letter. 
"  Give  me  another  month's  grace  and  then  you 
may  tell  the  whole  story.  Yours,  Rex  Hol- 
land." 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  stared  at  the  letter  with 
open  mouth. 

"What  does  it  mean?  "  asked  the  girl  in  a 
whisper. 

"  It  means  that  Merrill  is  shielding  some- 
body," said  the  other.  "  It  means  —  " 

Suddenly  his  face  lit  up  with  excitement. 

"  The  writing!  "  he  gasped. 

Her  eyes  followed  his,  and  for  a  moment 
she  did  not  understand ;  then,  with  a  lightning 

259 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

sweep  of  her  arm,  she  snatched  the  letter  from 
his  hand  and  crumpled  it  in  a  ball. 

"  The  writing ! "  said  Mr.  Mann  again. 
"  I  've  seen  it  before.  It  is  —  Jasper  Cole's !  " 

She  looked  at  him  steadily,  though  her  face 
was  white,  and  the  hand  which  grasped  the 
crumpled  paper  was  shaking. 

"  I  think  you  are  mistaken,  Mr.  Mann,"  she 
said  quietly. 


260 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE    MAN    WHO    LOOKED    LIKE    FRANK 

SAUL  ARTHUR  MANN  came  back  to 
England  full  of  his  news,  and  found 
Frank  at  the  little  Jermyn  Street  hotel  where 
he  had  installed  himself,  and  Frank  listened 
without  interruption  to  the  story  of  the  letter. 
"Of  course,"  the  little  fellow  went  on,  "  I 
went  straight  over  to  Montreux.  The  note 
heading  was  not  on  the  paper,  but  I  had  no 
difficulty,  by  comparing  the  qualities  of  papers 
used  at  the  various  hotels,  in  discovering  that 
it  was  written  from  the  Palace.  The  head 
waiter  knew  this  Rex  Holland,  who  had  been 
a  frequent  visitor,  had  always  tipped  very 
liberally,  and  lived  in  something  like  style. 
He  could  not  describe  his  patron,  except  that 
he  was  a  young  man  with  a  very  languid  man- 
ner who  had  arrived  the  previous  morning 

261 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

from  Holland  and  had  immediately  inquired 
for  Frank  Merrill." 

"  From  Holland !  Are  you  sure  it  was  the 
morning-?  I  have  a  particular  reason  for 
asking,"  asked  Frank  quickly. 

"  No,  it  was  not  in  the  morning1,  now  you 
mention  it.  It  was  in  the  evening.  He  left 
again  the  following1  morning  by  the  northern 
train." 

"How  did  he  find  my  address?"  asked 
Frank. 

"  Obviously  from  the  visitors'  list.  The 
waiter  on  duty  in  the  writing  room  remem- 
bered having  seen  him  consulting  the  news- 
paper. Now,  my  boy,  you  have  to  be  perfectly 
candid  with  me.  What  do  you  know  about 
Rex  Holland?" 

Frank  opened  his  case,  took  out  a  cigarette, 
and  lit  it  before  he  replied. 

"  I  know  what  everybody  knows  about 
him,"  he  said,  with  a  hint  of  bitterness  in  his 
voice,  "  and  something  which  nobody  knows 
but  me." 

262 


MAN  WHO  LOOKED  LIKE  FRANK 

"  But,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  Saul  Arthur 
Mann,  laying  his  hand  on  the  other's  shoul- 
der, "  surely  you  realize  how  important  it  is 
for  you  that  you  should  tell  me  all  you  know." 

Frank  shook  his  head. 

'  The  time  is  not  come,"  he  said,  and  he 
would  make  no  further  statement. 

But  on  another  matter  he  was  emphatic. 

"  By  heaven,  Mann,  I  am  not  going  to  stand 
by  and  see  May  ruin  her  life.  There  's  some- 
thing sinister  in  this  influence  which  Jasper  is 
exercising  over  her.  You  have  seen  it  for 
yourself." 

Saul  Arthur  nodded. 

"  I  can't  understand  what  it  is,"  he  con- 
fessed. "  Of  course  Jasper  is  not  a  bad-look- 
ing fellow.  He  has  perfect  manners  and  is  a 
charming  companion.  You  don't  think  —  " 

'  That  he  is  winning  on  his  merits  ?  "  Frank 
shook  his  head.  "  No,  indeed,  I  do  not.  It  is 
difficult  for  me  to  discuss  my  private  affairs, 
and  you  know  how  reluctant  I  am  to  do  so,  but 
you  are  also  aware  of  what  I  think  of  May. 

263 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

I  was  hoping  that  we  should  go  back  to  the 
place  where  we  left  off,  and,  although  she  is 
kindness  itself,  this  girl  who  is  more  to  me 
than  anything  or  anybody  in  the  world,  and 
who  was  prepared  to  marry  me,  and  would 
have  married  me  but  for  Jasper's  machina- 
tions, was  almost  cold." 

He  was  walking  up  and  down  the  room, 
and  now  halted  in  his  stride  and  spread  out 
his  arms  despairingly. 

"  What  am  I  to  do?  I  cannot  lose  her.  I 
cannot ! " 

There  was  a  fierceness  in  his  tone  which  re- 
vealed the  depth  of  his  feeling,  and  Saul 
Arthur  Mann  understood. 

"  I  think  it  is  too  soon  to  say  you  have  lost 
her,  Frank,"  he  said. 

He  had  conceived  a  genuine  liking  for 
Frank  Merrill,  and  the  period  of  tribulation 
through  which  the  young  man  had  passed  had 
heightened  the  respect  in  which  he  held  him. 

"  We  shall  see  light  in  dark  places  before 
we  go  much  farther,"  he  said.  "  There  is 

264 


MAN  WHO  LOOKED  LIKE  FRANK 

something  behind  this  crime,  Frank,  which  I 
don't  understand,  but  which  I  am  certain  is  no 
mystery  to  you.  I  am  sure  that  you  are  shield- 
ing somebody,  for  what  reason  I  am  not  in  a 
position  to  tell,  but  I  will  get  to  the  bottom 
of  it." 

No  event  in  the  interesting  life  of  this  little 
man,  who  had  spent  his  years  in  the  accumu- 
lation of  facts,  had  so  distressed  and  piqued 
him  as  the  murder  of  John  Minute.  The  case 
had  ended  where  the  trial  had  left  it. 

Crawley,  who  might  have  offered  a  new  as- 
pect to  the  tragedy,  had  disappeared  as  com- 
pletely as  though  the  earth  had  swallowed 
him.  The  most  strenuous  efforts  which  the  of- 
ficial police  had  made,  added  to  the  investiga- 
tions which  Saul  Arthur  Mann  had  conducted 
independently,  had  failed  to  trace  the  fugitive 
ex-sergeant  of  police.  Obviously,  he  was  not 
to  be  confounded  with  Rex  Holland.  He  was 
a  distinct  personality  working  possibly  in  col- 
lusion, but  there  the  association  ended. 

It  had  occurred  to  the  investigator  that  pos- 
265 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

sibly  Crawley  had  accompanied  Rex  Holland 
in  his  flight,  but  the  most  careful  inquiries 
which  he  had  pursued  at  Montreux  were  fruit- 
less in  this  respect  as  in  all  others. 

To  add  to  his  bewilderment,  investigations 
nearer  at  home  were  constantly  bringing  him 
across  the  track  of  Frank  Merrill.  It  was  as 
though  fate  had  conspired  to  show  the  boy  in 
the  blackest  light.  Frank  had  been  acting  as 
secretary  to  his  uncle,  and  then  Jasper  Cole 
had  suddenly  appeared  upon  the  scene  from 
nowhere  in  particular.  The  suggestion  had 
been  made  somewhat  vaguely  that  he  had 
come  from  "  abroad,"  and  it  was  certain  that 
he  arrived  as  a  result  of  long  negotiations 
which  John  Minute  himself  had  conducted. 
They  were  negotiations  which  involved 
months  of  correspondence,  no  letter  of  which 
either  from  one  or  the  other  had  Frank  seen. 

While  the  trial  was  pending,  the  little  man 
collected  quite  a  volume  of  information,  both 
from  Frank  and  the  girl,  but  nothing  had  been 
quite  as  inexplicable  as  this  intrusion  of 

266 


MAN  WHO  LOOKED  LIKE  FRANK 

Jasper  Cole  upon  the  scene,  or  the  extraor- 
dinary mystery  which  John  Minute  had  made 
of  his  engagement. 

He  had  written  and  posted  all  the  letters  to 
Jasper  himself,  and  had  apparently  received 
the  replies,  which  he  had  burned,  at  some 
other  address  of  which  Frank  was  ignorant. 

Jasper  had  come,  and  then  one  day  there 
had  been  a  quarrel,  not  between  the  two 
young  men,  but  between  Frank  and  his  uncle. 
It  was  a  singularly  bitter  quarrel,  and  again 
Frank  refused  to  discuss  the  cause.  He  left 
the  impression  upon  Saul  Arthur's  mind  that 
he  had  to  some  extent  been  responsible.  And 
here  was  another  fact  which  puzzled  "  The 
Man  Who  Knew."  Sergeant  Smith,  as  he 
was  then,  had  been  to  some  extent  responsi- 
ble. It  was  Frank  who  had  introduced  the 
sergeant  to  Eastbourne  and  brought  him  to 
his  uncle.  But  this  was  only  one  aspect  of 
the  mystery.  There  were  others  as  obscure. 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  went  back  to  his  bureau, 
and  for  the  twentieth  time  gathered  the  con- 

267 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

siderable  dossiers  he  had  accumulated  relat- 
ing to  the  case  and  to  the  characters,  and  went 
through  them  systematically  and  carefully. 

He  left  his  office  near  midnight,  but  at  nine 
o'clock  the  next  morning  was  on  his  way  to 
Eastbourne.  Constable  Wiseman  was,  by 
good  fortune,  enjoying  a  day's  holiday,  and 
was  at  work  in  his  kitchen  garden  when  Mr. 
Mann's  car  pulled  up  before  the  cottage. 
Wiseman  received  his  visitor  importantly, 
for,  though  the  constable's  prestige  was  re- 
garded in  official  circles  as  having  diminished 
as  a  result  of  the  trial,  it  was  felt  by  the  vil- 
lagers that  their  policeman,  if  he  had  not 
solved  the  mystery  of  John  Minute's  death, 
had  at  least  gone  a  long  way  to  its  solution. 

In  the  spotless  room  which  was  half  kitchen 
and  half  sitting  room,  with  its  red-tiled  floor 
covered  by  bright  matting,  Mrs.  Wiseman 
produced  a  well-dusted  Windsor  chair,  which 
she  placed  at  Saul  Arthur  Mann's  disposal  be- 
fore she  politely  vanished.  In  a  very  few 
words  the  investigator  stated  his  errand,  and 

268 


MAN  WHO   LOOKED   LIKE  FRANK 

Constable  Wiseman  listened  in  noncommittal 
silence.  When  his  visitor  had  finished,  he 
shook  his  head. 

'  The  only  thing  about  the  sergeant  I  know," 
he  said,  "  I  have  already  told  the  chief  con- 
stable who  sat  in  that  very  chair,"  he  explained. 
"  He  was  always  a  bit  of  a  mystery  — the  ser- 
geant, I  mean.  When  he  was  '  tanked/  if  I 
may  use  the  expression,  he  would  tell  you 
stories  by  the  hour,  but  when  he  was  sober  you 
could  n't  get  a  word  out  of  him.  His  daughter 
only  lived  with  him  for  about  a  fortnight." 

"  His  daughter !  "  said  Mr.  Mann  quickly. 

"  He  had  a  daughter,  as  I  Ve  already  noti- 
fied my  superiors,"  said  Constable  Wiseman 
gravely.  "  Rather  a  pretty  girl.  I  never  saw 
much  of  her,  but  she  was  in  Eastbourne  off  and 
on  for  about  a  fortnight  after  the  sergeant 
came.  Funny  thing,  I  happen  to  know  the  day 
he  arrived,  because  the  wheel  of  his  fly  came 
off  on  my  beat,  and  I  noticed  the  circumstances 
according  to  law  and  reported  the  same.  I 
don't  even  know  if  she  was  living  with  him. 

269 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

He  had  a  cottage  down  at  Birlham  Gap,  and 
that  is  where  I  saw  her.  Yes,  she  was  a  pretty 
girl,"  he  said  reminiscently ;  "  one  of  the  slim 
and  slender  kind,  very  dark  and  with  a  com- 
plexion like  milk.  But  they  never  found  her," 
he  said. 

Again  Mr.  Mann  interrupted. 
'  You  mean  the  police?  " 

Constable  Wiseman  shook  his  head. 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  said ;  "  they  Ve  been  looking 
for  her  for  years ;  long  before  Mr.  Minute  was 
killed." 

"Who  are  'they'?" 

'  Well,  several  people,"  said  the  constable 
slowly.  "  I  happen  to  know  that  Mr.  Cole 
wanted  to  find  out  where  she  was.  But  then 
he  did  n't  start  searching  until  weeks  after  she 
disappeared.  It  is  very  rum,"  mused  Constable 
Wiseman,  "  the  way  Mr.  Cole  went  about  it. 
He  didn't  come  straight  to  us  and  ask  our 
assistance,  but  he  had  a  lot  of  private  de- 
tectives nosing  round  Eastbourne;  one  of  'em 
happened  to  be  a  cousin  of  my  wife's.  So  we 

270 


MAN   WHO   LOOKED   LIKE   FRANK 

got  to  know  about  it.    Cole  spent  a  lot  of  money 
trying  to  trace  her,  and  so  did  Mr.  Minute." 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  saw  a  faint  gleam  of 
daylight. 

"Mr.  Minute,  too?"  he  asked.  "Was  he 
working  with  Mr.  Cole  ?  " 

"  So  far  as  I  can  find  out,  they  were  both 
working  independent  of  the  other  —  Mr.  Cole 
and  Mr.  Minute,"  explained  Mr.  Wiseman. 
"  It  is  what  I  call  a  mystery  within  a  mystery, 
and  it  has  never  been  properly  cleared  up.  I 
thought  something  was  coming  out  about  it  at 
the  trial,  but  you  know  what  a  mess  the  lawyers 
made  of  it." 

It  was  Constable  Wiseman's  firm  conviction 
that  Frank  Merrill  had  escaped  through  the 
incompetence  of  the  crown  authorities,  and 
there  were  moments  in  his  domestic  circle  when 
he  was  bitter  and  even  insubordinate  on  the 
subject. 

"  You  still  think  Mr.  Merrill  was  guilty?  " 
asked  Saul  Arthur  Mann  as  he  took  his  leave 
of  the  other. 

271 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  I  am  as  sure  of  it  as  I  am  that  I  am  stand- 
ing here,"  said  the  constable,  not  without  a 
certain  pride  in  the  consistency  of  his  view. 
"  Did  n't  I  go  into  the  room  ?  Was  n't  he 
there  with  the  deceased?  Was  n't  his  revolver 
found?  Hadn't  there  been  some  jiggery- 
pokery  with  his  books  in  London  ?  " 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  smiled. 

'  There  are  some  of  us  who  think  differently, 
Constable,"  he  said,  shaking  hands  with  the 
implacable  officer  of  the  law. 

He  brought  back  to  London  a  few  new  facts 
to  be  added  to  his  record  of  Sergeant  Crawley, 
alias  Smith,  and  on  these  he  went  painstak- 
ingly to  work. 

As  has  been  already  explained,  Saul  Arthur 
Mann  had  a  particularly  useful  relationship 
with  Scotland  Yard,  and  fortunately,  about 
that  time,  he  was  on  the  most  excellent  terms 
with  official  police  headquarters,  for  he  had  been 
able  to  assist  them  in  running  to  earth  one  of 
the  most  powerful  blackmailing  gangs  that  had 
ever  operated  in  Europe.  His  files  had  been 

272 


MAN  WHO   LOOKED   LIKE   FRANK 

drawn  upon  to  such  good  purpose  that  the 
police  had  secured  convictions  against  the 
seventeen  members  of  the  gang  who  were  in 
England. 

He  sought  an  interview  with  the  chief  com- 
missioner, and  that  same  night,  accompanied 
by  a  small  army  of  detectives,  he  made  a  syste- 
matic search  of  Silvers  Rents.  The  house  into 
which  Jasper  Cole  had  been  seen  to  enter  was 
again  raided,  and  again  without  result.  The 
house  was  empty  save  for  one  room,  a  big  room 
which  was  simply  furnished  with  a  truckle- 
bed,  a  table,  a  chair,  a  lamp,  and  a  strip  of 
carpet.  There  were  four  rooms  —  two  up- 
stairs, which  were  never  used,  and  two  on  the 
ground  floor. 

At  the  end  of  a  passage  was  a  kitchen,  which 
also  was  empty,  save  for  a  length  of  bamboo 
ladder.  From  the  kitchen  a  bolted  door  led  on 
to  a  tiny  square  of  yard  which  was  separated 
by  three  walls  from  yarids  of  similar  dimensions 
to  left  and  right  and  to  the  back  of  the  premises. 
At  the  back  of  Silvers  Rents  was  Royston 

273 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Court,  which  was  another  cul-de-sac,  running 
parallel  with  Silvers  Rents. 

Mr.  Mann  returned  to  the  house,  and  again 
searched  the  upstairs  rooms,  looking  partic- 
ularly for  a  trapdoor,  for  the  bamboo  ladder 
suggested  some  such  exit.  This  time,  how- 
ever, he  completely  failed.  Jasper  Cole,  he 
found,  had  made  only  one  visit  to  the  house 
since  John  Minute's  death. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  as  showing  the  localizing 
of  interest,  that  Silvers  Rents  knew  nothing 
of  what  had  occurred  almost  at  its  doors,  and, 
though  it  had  at  its  finger  tips  all  the  gossip  of 
the  docks  and  the  Thames  Iron  Works,  it  was 
profoundly  ignorant  of  what  was  common 
property  in  Royston  Court.  It  is  even  more 
remarkable  that  Saul  Arthur  Mann,  with  his 
squadron  of  detectives,  should  have  confined 
their  investigations  to  Silvers  Rents. 

The  investigator  was  baffled  and  disap- 
pointed, but  by  the  oddest  of  chances  he  was 
to  pick  up  yet  another  thread  of  the  Minute 
mystery,  a  thread  which,  however,  was  to  lead 

274 


MAN  WHO   LOOKED   LIKE  FRANK 

him  into  an  ever-deeper  maze  than  that  which 
he  had  already  and  so  unsuccessfully  attempted 
to  penetrate. 

Three  days  after  his  search  of  Silvers  Rents, 
business  took  Mr.  Mann  to  Camden  Town. 
To  be  exact,  he  had  gone  at  the  request  of  the 
police  to  Holloway  Jail  to  see  a  prisoner  who 
had  turned  state's  evidence  on  a  matter  in 
which  the  police  and  Mr.  Mann  were  equally 
interested.  Very  foolishly  he  had  dismissed 
his  taxi,  and  when  he  emerged  from  the  doors 
there  was  no  conveyance  in  sight.  He  decided, 
rather  than  take  the  trams  which  would  have 
carried  him  to  King's  Cross,  to  walk,  and, 
since  he  hated  main  roads,  he  had  taken  a  short 
cut,  which,  as  he  knew,  would  lead  him  into 
the  Hampstead  Road. 

Thus  he  found  himself  in  Flowerton  Road, 
a  thoroughfare  of  respectable  detached  houses 
occupied  by  the  superior  industrial  type.  He 
was  striding  along,  swinging  his  umbrella  and 
humming,  as  was  his  wont,  an  unmusical  ren- 
dering of  a  popular  tune,  when  his  attention 

275 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

was  attracted  to  a  sight  which  took  his  breath 
away  and  brought  him  to  a  halt. 

It  was  half  past  five,  and  dull,  but  his  eye- 
sight was  excellent,  and  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  make  a  mistake.  The  houses  of  Flower- 
ton  Road  stand  back  and  are  separated  from 
the  sidewalk  by  diminutive  gardens.  The 
front  doors  are  approached  by  six  or  seven 
steps,  and  it  was  on  the  top  of  one  of  these 
flights  in  front  of  an  open  door  that  the  scene 
was  enacted  which  brought  Mr.  Mann  to  a 
standstill. 

The  characters  were  a  young  man  and  a 
girl.  The  girl  was  extremely  pretty  and 
very  pale.  The  man  was  the  exact  double  of 
Frank  Merrill.  He  was  dressed  in  a  rough 
tweed  suit,  and  wore  a  soft  felt  hat  with  a 
fairly  wide  brim.  But  it  was  not  the  appear- 
ance of  this  remarkable  apparition  which 
startled  the  investigator.  It  was  the  attitude 
of  the  two  people.  The  girl  was  evidently 
pleading  with  her  companion.  Saul  Arthur 
Mann  was  too  far  away  to  hear  what  she  said, 

276 


MAN  WHO   LOOKED   LIKE  FRANK 

but  he  saw  the  young  man  shake  himself  loose 
from  the  girl.  She  again  grasped  his  arm  and 
raised  her  face  imploringly. 

Mr.  Mann  gasped,  for  he  saw  the  young 
man's  hand  come  up  and  strike  her  back  into 
the  house.  Then  he  caught  hold  of  the  door 
and  banged  it  savagely,  walked  down  the 
stairs,  and,  turning,  hurried  away. 

The  investigator  stood  as  though  he  were 
rooted  to  the  spot,  and  before  he  could  recover 
himself  the  fellow  had  turned  the  corner  of 
the  road  and  was  out  of  sight.  Saul  Arthur 
Mann  took  off  his  hat  and  wiped  his  forehead. 
All  his  initiative  was  for  the  moment  para- 
lyzed. He  walked  slowly  up  to  the  gate  and 
hesitated.  What  excuse  could  he  have  for 
calling?  If  this  were  Frank,  assuredly  his  own 
views  were  all  wrong,  and  the  mystery  was  a 
greater  mystery  still. 

His  energies  began  to  reawaken.  He  took 
a  note  of  the  number  of  the  house,  and  hurried 
off  after  the  young  man.  When  he  turned  the 
corner  his  quarry  had  vanished.  He  hurried 

277 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

to  the  next  corner,  but  without  overtaking  the 
object  of  his  pursuit.  Fortunately,  at  his  mo- 
ment, he  found  an  empty  taxicab  and  hailed 
it. 

"  Grimm's  Hotel,  Jermyn  Street,"  he  di- 
rected. 

At  least  he  could  satisfy  his  mind  upon  one 
point. 


278 


CHAPTER  XV 
A  LETTER  IN  THE  GRATE 

GRIMM'S  HOTEL  is  in  reality  a  block  of 
flats,  with  a  restaurant  attached.  The 
restaurant  is  little  more  than  a  kitchen  from 
whence  meals  are  served  to  residents  in  their 
rooms.  Frank's  suite  was  on  the  third  floor, 
and  Mr.  Mann,  paying  his  cabman,  hurried 
into  the  hall,  stepped  into  the  automatic  lift, 
pressed  the  button,  and  was  deposited  at 
Frank's  door.  He  knocked  with  a  sickening 
sense  of  apprehension  that  there  would  be  no 
answer.  To  his  delight  and  amazement,  he 
heard  Frank's  firm  step  in  the  tiny  hall  of  his 
flat,  and  the  door  was  opened.  Frank  was  in 
the  act  of  dressing  for  dinner. 

"  Come  in,  S.  A.  M.,"  he  said  cheerily,  "  and 
tell  me  all  the  news." 

He  led  the  way  back  to  his  room  and  re- 
sumed the  delicate  task  of  tying  his  dress 
bow. 

279 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

"  How  long  have  you  been  here?"  asked 
Mr.  Mann. 
Frank  looked  at  him  inquiringly. 

"  How  long  have  I  been  here  ?  "  he  repeated. 
"  I  cannot  tell  you  the  exact  time,  but  I  have 
been  here  since  a  short  while  after  lunch." 

Mr.  Mann  was  bewildered  and  still  uncon- 
vinced. 

"  What  clothes  did  you  take  off?  " 

It  was  Frank's  turn  to  look  amazed  and 
bewildered. 

"  Clothes  ?  "  he  repeated.  "  What  are  you 
driving  at,  my  dear  chap?  " 

'What  suit  were  you  wearing  to-day  ?': 
persisted  Saul  Arthur  Mann. 

Frank  disappeared  into  his  dressing  roon 
and  came  out  with  a  tumbled  bundle  which 
he  dropped  on  a  chair.  It  was  the  blue  suit 
which  he  usually  affected. 

"Now  what  is  the  joke?  " 

"  It  is  no  joke,"  said  the  other.  "  I  could 
have  sworn  that  I  saw  you  less  than  half  an 
hour  ago  in  Camden  Town." 

280 


A    LETTER   IN    THE    GRATE 

"  I  won't  pretend  that  I  don't  know  wher» 
Camden  Town  is,"  smiled  Frank,  "  but  I  have 
not  visited  that  interesting  locality  for  many 
years." 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  was  silent.  It  was  ob- 
vious to  him  that  whoever  was  the  occupant 
of  69  Flowerton  Road,  it  was  not  Frank  Mer- 
rill. Frank  listened  to  the  narrative  with 
interest. 

"You  were  probably  mistaken;  the  light 
played  you  a  trick,  I  expect,"  he  said. 

But  Mr.  Mann  was  emphatic. 

"  I  could  have  taken  an  oath  in  a  court  that 
it  was  you,"  he  said. 

Frank  stared  out  of  the  window. 

"  How  very  curious !  "  he  mused.  "  I  sup- 
pose I  cannot  very  well  prosecute  a  man  for 
looking  like  me  —  poor  girl !  " 

"  Of  whom  are  you  thinking? "  asked  the 
other. 

"  I  was  thinking  of  the  unfortunate  woman," 
answered  Frank.  "  What  brutes  there  are  in 
the  world!" 

281 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

'  You  gave  me  a  terrible  fright,"  admitted 
his  friend. 

Frank's  laugh  was  loud  and  hearty. 

"  I  suppose  you  saw  me  figuring  in  a  court, 
charged  with  common  assault,"  he  said. 

"  I  saw  more  than  that,"  said  the  other 
gravely,  "and  I  see  more  than  that  now.  Sup- 
pose you  have  a  double,  and  suppose  that 
double  is  working  in  collusion  with  your 
enemies." 

Frank  shook  his  head  wearily. 

"  My  dear  friend,"  he  said,  with  a  little  smile, 
"  I  am  tired  of  supposing  things.  Come  and 
dine  with  me." 

But  Mr.  Mann  had  another  engagement. 
Moreover,  he  wanted  to  think  things  out. 

Thinking  things  out  was  a  process  which 
brought  little  reward  in  this  instance,  and  he 
went  to  bed  that  night  a  vexed  and  puzzled 
man.  He  always  had  his  breakfast  in  bed  at 
ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  for  he  had  reached 
the  age  of  habits  and  had  fixed  ten  o'clock, 
since  it  gave  his  clerks  time  to  bring  down  his 

282 


A    LETTER    IN    THE    GRATE 

personal  mail  from  the  office  to  his  private 
residence. 

It  was  a  profitable  mail,  it  was  an  exciting 
mail,  and  it  contained  an  element  of  rich 
promise,  for  it  included  a  letter  from  Constable 
Wiseman: 

DEAR  SIR:  Re  our  previous  conversation,  I  have 
just  come  across  one  of  the  photographs  of  the 
young  lady  —  Sergeant  Smith's  daughter.  It  was 
given  to  the  private  detective  who  was  searching 
for  her.  It  was  given  to  my  wife  by  her  cousin,  and 
I  send  it  to  you  hoping  it  may  be  of  some  use. 
Yours  respectfully, 

PETER  JOHN  WISEMAN. 

The  photograph  was  wrapped  in  a  piece  of 
tissue  paper,  and  Saul  Arthur  Mann  opened  it 
eagerly.  He  looked  at  the  oblong  card  and 
gasped,  for  the  girl  who  was  depicted  there 
was  the  girl  he  had  seen  on  the  steps  of 
69  Flowerton  Road. 

A  telephone  message  prepared  Frank  for  the 
news,  and  an  hour  later  the  two  men  were 
together  in  the  office  of  the  bureau. 

283 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  I  am  going  along  to  that  house  to  see  the 
girl,"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann.  "Will  you 
come  ?  " 

"  With  all  the  pleasure  in  life,"  said  Frank. 
"  Curiously  enough,  I  am  as  eager  to  find  her 
as  you.  I  remember  her  very  well,  and  one  of 
the  quarrels  I  had  with  my  uncle  was  due  to 
her.  She  had  come  up  to  the  house  on  behalf 
of  her  father,  and  I  thought  uncle  treated  her 
rather  brutally." 

"  Point  number  one  cleared  up,"  thought 
Saul  Arthur  Mann. 

"  Then  she  disappeared,"  Frank  went  on, 
"  and  Jasper  came  on  the  scene.  There  was 
some  association  between  this  girl  and  Jasper, 
which  I  have  never  been  able  to  fathom.  All 
I  know  is  that  he  took  a  tremendous  interest  in 
her  and  tried  to  find  her,  and,  so  far  as  I 
remember,  he  never  succeeded." 

Mr.  Mann's  car  was  at  the  door,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  they  were  deposited  before  the  prim 
exterior  of  Number  69. 

The  door  was  opened  by  a  girl  servant,  who 
284 


A    LETTER   IN    THE    GRATE 

stared  from  Saul  Arthur  Mann  to  his  com- 
panion. 

"  There   is  a  lady  living  here,"   said   Mr. 
Mann. 

He  produced  the  photograph. 

"This  is  the  lady?" 

The  girl  nodded,  still  staring  at  Frank. 

"  I  want  to  see  her." 

"  She  's  gone,"  said  the  girl. 

"  You  are  looking  at  me  very  intently,"  said 
Frank.    "  Have  you  ever  seen  me  before  ?  " 

'  Yes,  sir,"  said  the  girl ;  "  you  used  to  come 
here,  or  a  gentleman  very  much  like  you.  You 
are  Mr.  MerriU." 

'That  is  my  name,"  smiled  Frank,  "but  I 
do  not  think  I  have  ever  been  here  before." 

"Where  has  the  lady  gone?"  asked  Saul 
Arthur. 

"She  went  last  night.     Took  all  her  boxes 
and  went  off  in  a  cab." 

"  Is  anybody  living  in  the  house  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  said  the  girl. 

"  How  long  have  you  been  in  service  here  ?  " 
285 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  About  a  week,  sir,"  replied  the  girl. 

"  We  are  friends  of  hers,"  said  Saul  Arthur 
shamelessly,  "  and  we  have  been  asked  to  call 
to  see  if  everything  is  all  right." 

The  girl  hesitated,  but  Saul  Arthur  Mann, 
with  that  air  of  authority  which  he  so  readily 
assumed,  swept  past  her  and  began  an  inspec- 
tion of  the  house. 

It  was  plainly  furnished,  but  the  furniture 
was  good. 

"  Apparently  the  spurious  Mr.  Merrill  had 
plenty  of  money,"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann. 

There  were  no  photographs  or  papers  visible 
until  they  came  to  the  bedroom,  where,  in  the 
grate,  was  a  torn  sheet  of  paper  bearing  a  few 
lines  of  fine  writing,  which  Mr.  Mann  imme- 
diately annexed.  Before  they  left,  Frank 
again  asked  the  girl : 

"  Was  the  gentleman  who  lived  here  really 
like  me?" 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  the  little  slavey. 

"  Have  a  good  look  at  me,"  said  Frank 
humorously,  and  the  girl  stared  again. 

286 


A  LETTER  IN  THE  GRATE 

"  Something-  like  you,"  she  admitted. 

"Did  he  talk  like  me?" 

"  I  never  heard  him  talk,  sir,"  said  the  girl. 

"  Tell  me,"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann,  "  was 
he  kind  to  his  wife?  " 

A  faint  grin  appeared  on  the  face  of  the 
little  servant. 

'  They  was  always  rowing,"  she  admitted. 
"A  bullying  fellow  he  was,  and  she  was 
frightened  of  him.  Are  you  the  police?  "  she 
asked  with  sudden  interest. 

Frank  shook  his  head. 

"  No,  we  are  not  the  police." 

He  gave  the  girl  half  a  crown,  and  walked 
down  the  steps  ahead  of  his  companion. 

"  It  is  rather  awkward  if  I  have  a  double 
who  bullies  his  wife  and  lives  in  Camden 
Town,"  he  said  as  the  car  hummed  back  to  the 
city  office. 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  was  silent  during  the 
journey,  and  only  answered  in  monosyllables. 

Again  in  the  privacy  of  his  office,  he  took 
the  torn  letter  and  carefully  pieced  it  together 

287 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

on  his  desk.     It  bore  no  address,  and  there 
were  no  affectionate  preliminaries : 

You  must  get  out  of  London.  Saul  Arthur 
Mann  saw  you  both  to-day.  Go  to  the  old  place 
and  await  instructions. 

There  was  no  signature,  but  across  the 
table  the  two  men  looked  at  one  another,  for 
the  writing  was  the  writing  of  Jasper  Cole. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE    COMING   OF    SERGEANT    SMITH 

JASPER  COLE  at  that  moment  was  trudg- 
ing through  the  snow  to  the  little  chalet 
which  May  Nuttall  had  taken  on  the  slope  of 
the  mountain  overlooking  Chamonix.  The 
sleigh  which  had  brought  him  up  from  the 
station  was  at  the  foot  of  the  rise.  May  saw 
him  from  the  veranda,  and  coo-ooed  a  wel- 
come. He  stamped  the  snow  from  his  boots 
and  ran  up  the  steps  of  the  veranda  to  meet 
her. 

"  This  is  a  very  pleasant  surprise,"  she  said, 
giving  him  both  her  hands  and  looking  at  him 
approvingly.  He  had  lost  much  of  his  pallor, 
and  his  face  was  tanned  and  healthy,  though 
a  little  fine  drawn. 

"  It  was  rather  a  mad  thing  to  do,  was  n't 
it  ?  "  he  confessed  ruefully. 

"  You  are  such  a  confirmed  bachelor,  Jasper, 
289 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

that  I  believe  you  hate  doing  anything  outside 
your  regular  routine.  Why  did  you  come  all 
the  way  from  Holland  to  the  Haute  Savoie?  " 

He  had  followed  her  into  the  warm  and  cozy 
sitting  room,  and  was  warming  his  chilled 
fingers  by  the  big  log  fire  which  burned  on  the 
hearth. 

"  Can  you  ask?    I  came  to  see  you." 

"  And  how  are  all  the  experiments  going?  " 

She  turned  him  to  another  topic  in  some 
hurry. 

'  There  have  been  no  experiments  since  last 
month;  at  least  not  the  kind  of  experiments 
you  mean.  The  one  in  which  I  have  been  en- 
gaged has  been  very  successful/' 

"  And  what  was  that  ?  "  she  asked  curiously. 

"  I  will  tell  you  one  of  these  days,"  he  said. 

He  was  staying  at  the  Hotel  des  Alpes,  and 
hoped  to  be  a  week  in  Chamonix.  They  chatted 
about  the  weather,  the  early  snow  which  had 
covered  the  valley  in  a  mantle  of  white,  about 
the  tantalizing  behavior  of  Mont  Blanc,  which 
had  not  been  visible  since  May  had  arrived,  of 

290 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

the  early  avalanches,  which  awakened  her  with 
their  thunder  on  the  night  of  her  arrival,  of 
the  pleasant  road  to  Argentieres,  of  the  vil- 
lages by  the  Col  de  Balme,  which  are  buried  in 
snow,  of  the  sparkling,  ethereal  green  of  the 
great  glacier  —  of  everything  save  that  which 
was  nearest  to  their  thoughts  and  to  their 
hearts. 

Jasper  broke  the  ice  when  he  referred  to 
Frank's  visit  to  Geneva. 

"  How  did  you  know  ?  "  she  asked,  suddenly 
grave. 

"  Somebody  told  me,"  he  said  casually. 

"  Jasper,  were  you  ever  at  Montreux?  "  she 
asked,  looking  him  straight  in  the  eye. 

"  I  have  been  to  Montreux,  or  rather  to 
Caux,"  he  said.  "  That  is  the  village  on  the 
mountain  above,  and  one  has  to  go  through 
Montreux  to  reach  it.  Why  did  you  ask?  " 

A  sudden  chill  had  fallen  upon  her,  which 
she  did  not  shake  off  that  day  or  the 
next. 

They  made  the  usual  excursions  together, 
291 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

climbed  up  the  wooded  slopes  of  the  Butte, 
and  on  the  third  morning  after  his  arrival 
stood  together  in,  the  clear  dawn  and  watched 
the  first  pink  rays  of  the  sun  striking  the 
humped  summit  of  Mont  Blanc. 

'  Is  n't  it  glorious?  "  she  whispered. 

He  nodded. 

The  serene  beauty  of  it  all,  the  purity,  the 
majestic  aloofness  of  mountains  at  once  de- 
pressed and  exalted  her,  brought  her  nearer 
to  the  sublimity  of  ancient  truths,  cleansed 
her  of  petty  fears.  She  turned  to  him  unex- 
pectedly and  asked : 

"  Jasper,  who  killed  John  Minute?  " 

He  made  no  reply.  His  wistful  eyes  were 
fixed  hungrily  upon  the  glories  of  light  and 
shade,  of  space,  of  inaccessibility,  of  purity,  of 
coloring,  of  all  that  dawn  upon  Mont  Blanc 
comprehended.  When  he  spoke  his  voice  was 
lowered  to  almost  a  whisper. 

"  I  know  that  the  man  who  killed  John 
Minute  is  alive  and  free,"  he  said. 

"Who  was  he?" 

292 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

"  If  you  do  not  know  now,  you  may  never 
know,"  he  said. 

There  was  a  silence  which  lasted  for  fully 
five  minutes,  and  the  crimson  light  upon  the 
mountain  top  had  paled  to  lemon  yellow. 

Then  she  asked  again  : 

"Are  you  directly  or  indirectly  guilty?" 

He  shook  his  head. 

"  Neither  directly  nor  indirectly,"  he  said 
shortly,  and  the  next  minute  she  was  in  his 
arms. 

There  had  been  no  word  of  love  between 
them,  no  tender  passage,  no  letter  which  the 
world  could  not  read.  It  was  a  love-making 
which  had  begun  where  other  love-makings 
end  —  in  conquest  and  in  surrender.  In 
this  strange  way,  beyond  all  understanding, 
May  Nuttall  became  engaged,  and  announced 
the  fact  in  the  briefest  of  letters  to  her 
friends. 

A  fortnight  later  the  girl  arrived  in  Eng- 
land, and  was  met  at  Charing  Cross  by  Saul 
Arthur  Mann.  She  was  radiantly  happy  and 

293 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

bubbling  over  with  good  spirits,  a  picture  of 
health  and  beauty. 

All  this  Mr.  Mann  observed  with  a  sinking 
heart.  He  had  a  duty  to  perform,  and  that 
duty  was  not  a  pleasant  one.  He  knew  it  was 
useless  to  reason  with  the  girl.  He  could  offer 
her  no  more  than  half-formed  theories  and 
suspicions,  but  at  least  he  had  one  trump  card. 
He  debated  in  his  mind  whether  he  should  play 
this,  for  here,  too,  his  information  was  of  the 
scantiest  description.  He  carried  his  account 
of  the  girl  to  Frank  Merrill. 

"  My  dear  Frank,  she  is  simply  infatuated," 
said  the  little  man  in  despair.  "  Oh,  if  that 
infernal  record  of  mine  was  only  completed 
I  could  convince  her  in  a  second !  There  is  no 
single  investigation  I  have  ever  undertaken 
which  has  been  so  disappointing." 

"  Can  nothing  be  done?"  asked  Frank,  "I 
cannot  believe  that  it  will  happen.  Marry 
Jasper!  Great  Caesar!  After  all — " 

His  voice  was  hoarse.  The  hand  he  raised 
in  protest  shook. 

294 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  scratched  his  chin 
reflectively. 

"  Suppose  you  saw  her,"  he  suggested,  and 
added  a  little  grimly :  "  I  will  see  Mr.  Cole  at 
the  same  time." 

Frank  hesitated. 

"  I  can  understand  your  reluctance,"  the 
little  man  went  on,  "  but  there  is  too  much  at 
stake  to  allow  your  finer  feelings  to  stop  you. 
This  matter  has  got  to  be  prevented  at  all  costs. 
We  are  fighting  for  time.  In  a  month,  possibly 
less,  wre  may  have  the  whole  of  the  facts  in  our 
hands." 

"  Have  you  found  out  anything  about  the 
girl  in  Camden  Town?  "  asked  Frank. 

"  She  has  disappeared  completely,"  replied 
the  other.  "  Every  clew  we  have  had  has  led 
nowhere." 

Frank  dressed  himself  with  unusual  care 
that ,  afternoon,  and,  having  previously  tele- 
phoned and  secured  the  girl's  permission  to 
call,  he  presented  himself  to  the  minute.  She 
was,  as  usual,  cordiality  itself. 

295 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  I  was  rather  hurt  at  your  not  calling  before, 
Frank,"  she  said.  '  You  have  come  to  con- 
gratulate me  ?  " 

She  looked  at  him  straight  in  the  eyes  as  she 
said  this. 

"  You  can  hardly  expect  that,  May/'  he  said 
gently,  "  knowing  how  much  you  are  to  me 
and  how  greatly  I  wanted  you.  Honestly,  I 
cannot  understand  it,  and  I  can  only  suppose 
that  you,  whom  I  love  better  than  anything  in 
the  world  —  and  you  mean  more  to  me  than 
any  other  being  —  share  the  suspicion  which 
surrounds  me  like  a  poison  cloud." 

"  Yet  if  I  shared  that  suspicion,"  she  said 
calmly,  "  would  I  let  you  see  me  ?  No,  Frank, 
I  was  a  child  when  —  you  know.  It  was  only 
a  few  months  ago,  but  I  believe  —  indeed  I 
know  —  it  would  have  been  the  greatest  mis- 
take I  could  possibly  have  made.  I  should  have 
been  a  very  unhappy  woman,  for  I  have  loved 
Jasper  all  along." 

She  said  this  evenly,  without  any  display  of 
emotion  or  embarrassment.  Frank,  narrating 

296 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

the  interview  to  Saul  Arthur  Mann,  described 
the  speech  as  almost  mechanical. 

"  I  hope  you  are  going  to  take  it  nicely/'  she 
went  on,  "  that  we  are  going  to  be  such  good 
friends  as  we  always  were,  and  that  even  the 
memory  of  your  poor  uncle's  death  and  the 
ghastly  trial  which  followed  and  the  part  that 
Jasper  played  will  not  spoil  our  friendship." 

"  But  don't  you  see  what  it  means  to  me?  " 
he  burst  forth,  and  for  a  second  they  looked  at 
one  another,  and  Frank  divined  her  thoughts 
and  winced. 

"  I  know  what  you  are  thinking,"  he  said 
huskily ;  "  you  are  thinking  of  all  the  beastly 
things  that  were  said  at  the  trial,  that  if  I  had 
gained  you  I  should  have  gained  all  that  I  tried 
to  gain." 

She  went  red. 

"It  was  horrid  of  me,  wasn't  it?  "  she  con- 
fessed. "  And  yet  that  idea  came  to  me.  One 
cannot  control  one's  thoughts,  Frank,  and  you 
must  be  content  to  know  that  I  believe  in  your 
innocence.  There  are  some  thoughts  which 

297 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

flourish  in  one's  mind  like  weeds,  and  which 
refuse  to  be  uprooted.  Don't  blame  me  if  I 
recalled  the  lawyer's  words ;  it  was  an  invol- 
untary, hateful  thought." 

He  inclined  his  head. 

*  There  is  another  thought  which  is  not 
involuntary,"  she  went  on,  "  and  it  is  because 
I  want  to  retain  our  friendship  and  I  want 
everything  to  go  on  as  usual  that  I  am  asking 
you  one  question.  Your  twenty-fourth  birth- 
day has  come  and  gone;  you  told  me  that 
your  uncle's  design  was  to  keep  you  unmar- 
ried until  that  day.  You  are  still  unmarried, 
and  your  twenty-fourth  birthday  has  passed. 
What  has  happened?  " 

"  Many  things  have  happened,"  he  replied 
quietly.  "  My  uncle  is  dead.  I  am  a  rich  man 
apart  from  the  accident  of  his  legacy.  I  could 
meet  you  on  level  terms." 

"  I  knew  nothing  of  this,"  she  said  quickly. 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Did  n't  Jasper  tell  you?  "  he  asked. 

"  No  —  Jasper  told  me  nothing." 
298 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

Frank  drew  a  long  breath. 

"  Then  I  can  only  say  that  until  the  mystery 
of  my  uncle's  death  is  solved  you  cannot  know," 
he  said,  "  I  can  only  repeat  what  I  have  al- 
ready told  you." 

She  offered  her  hand. 

"  I  believe  you,  Frank,"  she  said,  "  and  I  was 
wrong  even  to  doubt  you  in  the  smallest 
degree." 

He  took  her  hand  and  held  it. 

"  May,"  he  said,  "  what  is  this  strange  fas- 
cination that  Jasper  has  over  you?  " 

For  the  second  time  in  that  interview  she 
flushed  and  pulled  her  hand  back. 

"  There  is  nothing  unusual  in  the  fascination 
which  Jasper  exercises,"  she  smiled,  quickly 
recovering,  almost  against  her  will,  from  the 
little  twinge  of  anger  she  felt.  "  It  is  the  in- 
fluence which  every  woman  has  felt  and  which 
you  one  day  will  feel." 

He  laughed  bitterly. 

"Then  nothing  will  make  you  change  your 
mind? "  he  said. 

299 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

"  Nothing  in  the  world,"  she  answered  em- 
phatically. 

For  a  moment  she  was  sorry  for  him,  as  he 
stood,  both  hands  resting  on  a  chair,  his  eyes 
on  the  ground,  a  picture  of  despair,  and  she 
crossed  to  him  and  slipped  her  arm  through 
his. 

"  Don't  take  it  so  badly,  Frank,"  she  said 
softly.  "  I  am  a  capricious,  foolish  girl,  I 
know,  and  I  am  really  not  worth  a  moment's 
suffering." 

He  shook  himself  together,  gathered  up  his 
hat,  his  stick,  and  his  overcoat  and  offered  his 
hand. 

"  Good-by,"  he  said,  "  and  good  luck !  " 

In  the  meantime  another  interview  of  a 
widely  different  character  was  taking  place  in 
the  little  house  which  Jasper  Cole  occupied 
on  the  Portsmouth  Road.  Jasper  and  Saul 
Arthur  Mann  had  met  before,  but  this  was 
the  first  visit  that  the  investigator  had  paid  to 
the  home  of  John  Minute's  heir. 

Jasper  was  waiting  at  the  door  to  greet  the 
little  man  when  he  arrived,  and  had  offered 

300 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

him  a  quiet  but  warm  welcome  and  led  the  way 
to  the  beautiful  study  which  was  half  labora- 
tory, which  he  had  built  for  himself  since  John 
Minute's  death. 

"  I  am  coming  straight  to  the  point  without 
any  beating  about  the  bush,  Mr.  Cole,"  said  the 
little  man,  depositing  his  bag  on  the  side  of  his 
chair  and  opening  it  with  a  jerk.  "  I  will  tell 
you  frankly  that  I  am  acting  on  Mr.  Merrill's 
behalf  and  that  I  am  also  acting,  as  I  believe, 
in  the  interests  of  justice." 

'  Your  motives,  at  any  rate,  are  admirable," 
said  Jasper,  pushing  back  the  papers  which 
littered  his  big  library  table,  and  seating  him- 
self on  the  edge. 

'You  are  probably  aware  that  you  are  to 
some  extent  under  suspicion,  Mr.  Cole." 

"  Under  your  suspicion  or  the  suspicion  of 
the  authorities  ?  "  asked  the  other  coolly. 

"Under  mine,"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann 
emphatically.  "  I  cannot  speak  for  the  au- 
thorities." 

"  In  what  direction  does  this  suspicion  run?  " 
301 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

He  thrust  his  hands  deep  in  his  trousers 
pockets,  and  eyed  the  other  keenly. 

"  My  first  suspicion  is  that  you  are  well 
aware  as  to  who  murdered  John  Minute." 

Jasper  Cole  nodded. 

"  I  am  perfectly  aware  that  he  was  mur- 
dered by  your  friend,  Mr.  Merrill,"  he  said. 

"  I  suggest,"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann  calmly, 
"  that  you  know  the  murderer,  and  you  know 
the  murderer  was  not  Frank  Merrill." 

Jasper  made  no  reply,  and  a  faint  smile 
flickered  for  a  second  at  the  corner  of  his 
mouth,  but  he  gave  no  other  sign  of  his  inward 
feelings. 

"  And  the  other  point  you  wish  to  raise  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"  The  other  is  a  more  delicate  subject,  since 
it  involves  a  lady,"  said  the  little  man.  "  You 
are  about  to  be  married  to  Miss  Nuttall." 

Jasper  Cole  nodded. 

"  You  have  obtained  an  extraordinary  in- 
fluence over  the  lady  in  this  past  few  months." 

"  I  hope  so,"  said  the  other  cheerfully. 
302 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

"It  is  an  influence  which  might  have  been 
brought  about  by  normal  methods,  but  it  is  also 
one,"  Saul  Arthur  leaned  over  and  tapped  the 
table  emphatically  with  each  word,  "  which 
might  be  secured  by  a  very  clever  chemist  who 
had  found  a  way  of  sapping  the  will  of  his 
victim." 

"  By  the  administration  of  drugs  ?  "  asked 
Jasper. 

"  By  the  administration  of  drugs,"  repeated 
Saul  Arthur  Mann. 

Jasper  Cole  smiled. 

"  I  should  like  to  know  the  drug/  he  said. 
"  One  would  make  a  fortune,  to  say  nothing  of 
benefiting  humanity  to  an  extraordinary  degree 
by  its  employment.  For  example,  I  might  give 
you  a  dose  and  you  would  tell  me  all  that  you 
know;  I  am  told  that  your  knowledge  is  fairly 
extensive,"  he  bantered.  "  Surely  you,  Mr. 
Mann,  with  your  remarkable  collection  of  in- 
formation on  all  subjects  under  the  sun,  do  not 
suggest  that  such  a  drug  exists  ?  " 

"On  the  contrary,"  said  "The  Man  Who 
303 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Knew  "  in  triumph,  "  it  is  known  and  is  em- 
ployed. It  was  known  as  long  ago  as  the  days 
of  the  Borgias.  It  was  employed  in  France  in 
the  days  of  Louis  XVI.  It  has  been,  to  some 
extent,  rediscovered  and  used  in  lunatic 
asylums  to  quiet  dangerous  patients." 

He  saw  the  interest  deepen  in  the  other's 
eyes. 

"I  have  never  heard  of  that,"  said  Jasper 
slowly ;  "  the  only  drug  that  is  employed  for 
that  purpose  is,  as  far  as  I  know,  bromide  of 
potassium." 

Mr.  Mann  produced  a  slip  of  paper,  and  read 
off  a  list  of  names,  mostly  of  mental  institu- 
tions in  the  United  States  of  America  and  in 
Germany. 

"  Oh,  that  drug !  "  said  Jasper  Cole  con- 
temptuously. "  I  know  the  use  to  which  that  is 
put.  There  was  an  article  on  the  subject  in  the 
British  Medical  Journal  three  months  ago.  It 
is  a  modified  kind  of  '  twilight  sleep  '  —  hyocine 
and  morphia.  I  'm  afraid,  Mr.  Mann,"  he  went 
on,  "  you  have  come  on  a  fruitless  errand,  and, 

304 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

speaking  as  a  humble  student  of  science,  I  may 
suggest  without  offense  that  your  theories  are 
wholly  fantastic/' 

"  Then  I  will  put  another  suggestion  to  you, 
Mr.  Cole,"  said  the  little  man  without  resent- 
ment, "  and  to  me  this  constitutes  the  chief 
reason  why  you  should  not  marry  the  lady 
whose  confidence  I  enjoy  and  who,  I  feel  sure, 
will  be  influenced  by  my  advice." 

"  And  what  is  that  ?  "  asked  Jasper. 

"  It  affects  your  own  character,  and  it  is  in 
consequence  a  very  embarrassing  matter  for 
me  to  discuss/'  said  the  little  man. 

Again  the  other  favored  him  with  that  in- 
scrutable smile  of  his. 

"  My  moral  character,  I  presume,  is  now 
being  assailed,"  he  said  flippantly.  "Please 
go  on ;  you  promise  to  be  interesting." 

"  You  were  in  Holland  a  short  time  ago. 
Does  Miss  Nuttall  know  this?" 

Jasper  nodded. 

"  She  is  well  aware  of  the  fact." 

"  You  were  in  Holland  with  a  lady,"  accused 

305 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Mr.    Mann  slowly.      "  Is   Miss    Nuttall   well 
aware  of  this  fact,  too  ?  " 

Jasper  slipped  from  the  table  and  stood  up- 
right. Through  his  narrow  lids  he  looked 
down  upon  his  accuser. 

"  Is  that  all  you  know?  "  he  asked  softly. 

"Not  all,  but  one  of  the  things  I  know," 
retorted  the  other.  "  You  were  seen  in  her 
company.  She  was  staying  in  the  same  hotel 
with  you  as  '  Mrs.  Cole.' ' 

Jasper  nodded. 

'  You  will  excuse  me  if  I  decline  to  discuss 
the  matter,"  he  said. 

"  Suppose  I  ask  Miss  Nuttall  to  discuss  it?  ' 
challenged  the  little  man. 

"  You  are  the  master  of  your  own  actions," 
said  Jasper  Cole  quickly,  "  and  I  dare  say,  if 
you  regard  it  as  expedient,  you  will  tell  her,  but 
I  can  promise  you  that  whether  you  tell  her  or 
not  I  shall  marry  Miss  Nuttall." 

With  this  he  ushered  his  visitor  to  the  door, 
and  hardly  waited  for  the  car  to  drive  off  be- 
fore he  had  shut  that  door  behind  him. 

306 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

Late  that  night  the  two  friends  forgathered 
and  exchanged  their  experiences. 

"  I  am  sure  there  is  something  very  wrong 
indeed,"  said  Frank  emphatically.  "  She  was 
not  herself.  She  spoke  mechanically,  almost 
as  though  she  were  reciting  a  lesson.  You  had 
the  feeling  that  she  was  connected  by  wires 
with  somebody  who  was  dictating  her  every 
word  and  action.  It  is  damnable,  Mann.  What 
can  we  do  ?  " 

"We  must  prevent  the  marriage,"  said  the 
little  man  quietly,  "  and  employ  every  means 
that  opportunity  suggests  to  that  purpose. 
Make  no  mistake,"  he  said  emphatically;  "  Cole 
will  stop  at  nothing.  His  attitude  was  one 
big  bluff.  He  knows  that  I  have  beaten  him. 
It  was  only  by  luck  that  I  found  out  about  the 
woman  in  Holland.  I  got  my  agent  to  examine 
the  hotel  register,  and  there  it  was,  without 
any  attempt  at  disguise:  '  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cole, 
of  London.' ' 

'The  thing  to  do  is  to  see  May  at  once," 
said  Frank,  "and  put  all  the  facts  before 

307 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

her,  though  I  hate  the  idea;  it  seems  like 
sneaking." 

"Sneaking!"  exploded  Saul  Arthur  Mann. 
''  What  nonsense  you  talk !  You  are  too  full 
of  scruples,  my  friend,  for  this  work.  I  will 
see  her  to-morrow." 

"  I  will  go  with  you,"  said  Frank,  after  a 
moment's  thought.  "  I  have  no  wish  to  escape 
my  responsibility  in  the  matter.  She  will  prob- 
ably hate  me  for  my  interference,  but  I  have 
reached  beyond  the  point  where  I  care  —  so 
long  as  she  can  be  saved." 

It  was  agreed  that  they  should  meet  one 
another  at  the  office  in  the  morning  and  make 
their  way  together. 

"  Remember  this,"  said  Mann,  seriously, 
before  they  parted,  "  that  if  Cole  finds  the 
game  is  up  he  will  stop  at  nothing." 

"  Do  you  think  we  ought  to  take  pre- 
cautions ?  "  asked  Frank. 

"  Honestly  I  do,"  confessed  the  other,  "  I 
don't  think  we  can  get  the  men  from  the  Yard, 
but  there  is  a  very  excellent  agency  which 

308 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

sometimes  works  for  me,  and  they  can  provide 
a  guard  for  the  girl." 

"  I  wish  you  would  get  in  touch  with  them," 
said  Frank  earnestly.  "  I  am  worried  sick 
over  this  business.  She  ought  never  to  be  left 
out  of  their  sight.  I  will  see  if  I  can  have  a 
talk  to  her  maid,  so  that  we  may  know  when- 
ever she  is  going  out.  There  ought  to  be  a  man 
on  a  motor  cycle  always  waiting  about  the 
Savoy  to  follow  her  wherever  she  goes." 

They  parted  at  the  entrance  of  the  bureau, 
Saul  Arthur  Mann  returning  to  telephone  the 
necessary  instructions.  How  necessary  they 
were  was  proved  that  very  night. 

At  nine  o'clock  May  was  sitting  down  to  a 
solitary  dinner  when  a  telegram  was  delivered 
to  her.  It  was  from  the  chief  of  the  little 
mission  in  which  she  had  been  interested,  and 
ran: 

Very  urgent.  Have  something  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  tell  you. 

It  was  signed  with  the  name  of  the  matron 
of  the  mission,  and,  leaving  her  dinner  un- 

309 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

touched,  May  only  delayed  long  enough  to 
change  her  dress  before  she  was  speeding  in 
a  taxi  eastward. 

She  arrived  at  the  "hall,"  which  was  the 
headquarters  of  the  mission,  to  find  it  in  dark- 
ness. A  man  who  was  evidently  a  new  helper 
was  waiting  in  the  doorway  and  addressed  her. 

'*  You  are  Miss  Nuttall,  are  n't  you  ?  I 
thought  so.  The  matron  has  gone  down  to 
Silvers  Rents,  and  she  asked  me  to  go  along 
with  you." 

The  girl  dismissed  the  taxi,  and  in  company 
with  her  guide  threaded  the  narrow  tangle  of 
streets  between  the  mission  and  Silvers  Rents. 
She  was  halfway  along  one  of  the  ill-lighted 
thoroughfares  when  she  noticed  that  drawn 
up  by  the  side  of  the  road  was  a  big,  handsome 
motor  car,  and  she  wondered  what  had  brought 
this  evidence  of  luxurious  living  to  the  mean 
streets  of  Canning  Town.  She  was  not  left  in 
doubt  very  long,  for  as  she  came  up  to  the 
lights  and  was  shielding  her  eyes  from  their 
glare  her  arms  were  tightly  grasped,  a  shawl 

310 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

was  thrown  over  her  head,  and  she  was  lifted 
and  thrust  into  the  car's  interior.  A  hand 
gripped  her  throat. 

'  You  scream  and  I  will  kill  you !  "  hissed  a 
voice  in  her  ear. 

At  that  moment  the  car  started,  and  the  girl, 
with  a  scream  which  was  strangled  in  her 
throat,  fell  swooning  back  on  the  seat. 

May  recovered  consciousness  to  find  the  car 
still  rushing  forward  in  the  dark  and  the  hand 
of  her  captor  still  resting  at  her  throat. 

'  You  be  a  sensible  girl,"  said  a  muffled 
voice,  "  and  do  as  you  're  told  and  no  harm  will 
come  to  you." 

It  was  too  dark  to  see  his  face,  and  it  was 
evident  that  even  if  there  were  light  the  face 
was  so  well  concealed  that  she  could  not  recog- 
nize the  speaker.  Then  she  remembered  that 
this  man,  who  had  acted  as  her  guide,  had  been 
careful  to  keep  in  the  shadow  of  whatever  light 
there  was  while  he  was  conducting  her,  as  he 
said,  to  the  matron. 

"  Where  are  you  taking  me  ?  "  she  asked. 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  You  '11  know  in  time,"  was  the  noncom- 
mittal answer. 

It  was  a  wild  night;  rain  splashed  against 
the  windows  of  the  car,  and  she  could  hear  the 
wind  howling  above  the  noise  of  the  engines. 
They  were  evidently  going  into  the  country, 
for  now  and  again,  by  the  light  of  the  head- 
lamps, she  glimpsed  hedges  and  trees  which 
flashed  past.  Her  captor  suddenly  let  down 
one  of  the  windows  and  leaned  out,  giving 
some  instructions  to  the  driver.  What  they 
were  she  guessed,  for  the  lights  were  suddenly 
switched  off  and  the  car  ran  in  darkness. 

The  girl  was  in  a  panic  for  all  her  bold  show- 
ing. She  knew  that  this  desperate  man  was 
fearless  of  consequence,  and  that,  if  her  death 
would  achieve  his  ends  and  the  ends  of  his 
partners,  her  life  was  in  imminent  peril. 
What  were  those  ends,  she  wondered.  Were 
these  the  same  men  who  had  done  to  death 
John  Minute? 

"Who.  are  you?"  she  asked. 

There  was  a  little,  chuckling  laugh. 
312 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

"You'll  know  soon  enough." 

The  words  were  hardly  out  of  his  mouth 
when  there  was  a  terrific  crash.  The  car 
stopped  suddenly  and  canted  over,  and  the  girl 
was  jerked  forward  to  her  knees.  Every  pane 
of  glass  in  the  car  was  smashed,  and  it  was 
clear,  from  the  angle  at  which  it  lay,  that 
irremediable  damage  had  been  done.  The  man 
scrambled  up,  kicked  open  the  door,  and 
jumped  out. 

"  Level-crossing  gate,  sir,"  said  the  voice  of 
the  chauffeur.  !<  I  Ve  broken  my  wrist." 

With  the  disappearance  of  her  captor,  the 
girl  had  felt  for  the  fastening  of  the  opposite 
door,  and  had  turned  it.  To  her  delight  it 
opened  smoothly,  and  had  evidently  been  un- 
affected by  the  jam.  She  stepped  out  to  the 
road,  trembling  in  every  limb. 

She  felt,  rather  than  saw,  the  level-crossing 
gate,  and  knew  that  at  one  side  was  a  swing 
gate  for  passengers.  She  reached  this  when 
her  abductor  discovered  her  flight. 

"Come  back!"  he  cried  hoarsely. 

313 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

She  heard  a  roar  and  saw  a  flashing  of 
lights  and  fled  across  the  line  just  as  an  ex- 
press train  came  flying  northward.  It  missed 
her  by  inches,  and  the  force  of  the  wind  threw 
her  to  the  ground.  She  scrambled  up,  stum- 
bled across  the  remaining  rails,  and,  reaching 
the  gate  opposite,  fled  down  the  dark  road. 
She  had  gained  just  that  much  time  which  the 
train  took  in  passing.  She  ran  blindly  along 
the  dark  road,  slipping  and  stumbling  in  the 
mud,  and  she  heard  her  pursuer  squelching 
through  the  mud  in  the  rear. 

The  wind  flew  her  hair  awry,  the  rain  beat 
down  upon  her  face,  but  she  stumbled  on. 
Suddenly  she  slipped  and  fell,  and  as  she 
struggled  to  her  feet  the  heavy  hand  of  her 
pursuer  fell  upon  her  shoulder,  and  she 
screamed  aloud. 

"  None  of  that,"  said  the  voice,  and  his  hand 
covered  her  mouth. 

At  that  moment  a  bright  light  enveloped  the 
two,  a  light  so  intensely,  dazzlingly  white,  so 
unexpected  that  it  hit  the  girl  almost  like  a  blow. 


THE  COMING  OF  SERGEANT  SMITH 

It  came  from  somewhere  not  two  yards  away, 
and  the  man  released  his  hold  upon  the  girl 
and  stared  at  the  light. 

"  Hello ! "  said  a  voice  from  the  darkness. 
"What's  the  game?" 

She  was  behind  the  man,  and  could  not  see 
his  face.  All  that  she  knew  was  that  here  was 
help,  unexpected,  Heaven  sent,  and  she  strove 
to  recover  her  breath  and  her  speech. 

"  It 's  all  right,"  growled  the  man.  "  She  's 
a  lunatic  and  I  'm  taking  her  to  the  asylum." 

Suddenly  the  light  was  pushed  forward  to 
the  man's  face,  and  a  heavy  hand  was  laid 
upon  his  shoulder. 

"  You  are,  are  you  ?  "  said  the  other.  "  Well, 
1  am  going  to  take  you  to  a  lunatic  asylum, 
Sergeant  Smith  or  Crawley  or  whatever  your 
name  is.  You  know  me ;  my  name  's  Wise- 


man." 


For  a  moment  the  man  stood  as  though 
petrified,  and  then,  with  a  sudden  jerk,  he 
wrenched  his  hand  free  and  sprang  at  the 
policeman  with  a  wild  yell  of  rage,  and  in  a 

315 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

second  both  men  were  rolling  over  in  the  dark- 
ness. Constable  Wiseman  was  no  child,  but 
he  had  lost  his  initial  advantage,  and  by  the 
time  he  got  to  his  feet  and  had  found  his 
electric  torch  Crawley  had  vanished. 


316 


CHAPTER   XVII 

THE    MAN    CALLED    "  MERRILL " 

UTF  Wiseman  did  not  think  you  were  a  mur- 
A  derer,  I  should  regard  him  as  an  intelligent 
being,"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann. 

"  Have  they  found  Crawley  ?  "  asked  Frank. 

"  No,  he  got  away.  The  chauffeur  and  the 
car  were  hired  from  a  West  End  garage,  with 
this  story  of  a  lunatic  who  had  to  be  removed 
to  an  asylum,  and  apparently  Crawley,  or 
Smith,  was  the  man  who  hired  them.  He  even 
paid  a  little  extra  for  the  damage  which  the 
alleged  lunatic  might  do  the  car.  The  chauffeur 
says  that  he  had  some  doubt,  and  had  intended 
to  inform  the  police  after  he  had  arrived  at  his 
destination.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  were 
just  outside  Eastbourne  when  the  accident 
occurred."  'The  Man  Who  Knew"  paused. 
"Where  did  he  say  he  was  taking  her?"  he 
asked  Frank. 

317 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  He  was  told  to  drive  into  Eastbourne, 
where  more  detailed  instructions  would  be 
given  to  him.  The  police  have  confirmed  his 
story,  and  he  has  been  released. 

"  I  have  just  come  from  May,"  said  Frank. 
"  She  looks  none  the  worse  for  her  exciting 
adventure.  I  hope  you  have  arranged  to  have 
her  guarded?  " 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  nodded. 

"  It  will  be  the  last  adventure  of  that  kind 
our  friend  will  attempt,"  he  said. 

"  Still,  this  enlightens  us  a  little.  We  know 
that  Mr.  Rex  Holland  has  an  accomplice,  and 
that  accomplice  is  Sergeant  Smith,  so  we  may 
presume  that  they  were  both  in  the  murder. 
Constable  Wiseman  has  been  suitably  re- 
warded, as  he  well  deserves,"  said  Frank 
heartily. 

"  You  bear  no  malice,"  smiled  Saul  Arthur 
Mann. 

Frank  laughed,  and  shook  his  head. 

"  How  can  one  ?  "  he  asked  simply. 

318 


THE    MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

May  had  another  visitor.  Jasper  Cole  came 
hurriedly  to  London  at  the  first  intimation  of 
the  outrage,  but  was  reassured  by  the  girl's 
appearance. 

"  It  was  awfully  thrilling,"  she  said,  "  but 
really  I  am  not  greatly  distressed;  in  fact,  I 
think  I  look  less  tired  than  you." 

He  nodded. 

;<  That  is  very  possible.  I  did  not  go  to  bed 
until  very  late  this  morning,"  he  said.  "  I  was 
so  engrossed  in  my  research  work  that  I  did 
not  realize  it  was  morning  until  they  brought 
me  my  tea." 

'  You  have  n't  been  in  bed  all  night  ?  "  she 
said,  shocked,  and  shook  her  head  reprovingly. 
'  That  is  one  of  your  habits  of  life  which  will 
have  to  be  changed,"  she  warned  him. 

Jasper  Cole  did  not  dismiss  her  unpleasant 
experience  as  lightly  as  she. 

"  I  wonder  what  the  object  of  it  all  was,"  he 
said,  "and  why  they  took  you  back  to  East- 
bourne? I  think  we  shall  find  that  the  head- 

319 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

quarters  of  this  infernal  combination  is  some- 
where in  Sussex." 

"  Mr.  Mann  does  n't  think  so,"  she  said, 
"but  believes  that  the  car  was  to  be  met  by 
another  at  Eastbourne  and  I  was  to  be  trans- 
ferred. He  says  that  the  idea  of  taking  me 
there  was  to  throw  the  police  off  the  scent." 

She  shivered. 

"  It  was  n't  a  nice  experience,"  she  confessed. 

The  interview  took  place  in  the  afternoon, 
and  was  some  two  hours  after  Frank  had  inter- 
viewed the  girl;  Saul  Arthur  Mann  had  gone 
to  Eastbourne  to  bring  her  back.  Jasper  had 
arranged  to  spend  the  night  in  town,  and  had 
booked  two  stalls  at  the  Hippodrome.  She  had 
told  Saul  Arthur  Mann  this,  in  accordance  with 
her  promise  to  keep  him  informed  as  to  her 
movements,  and  she  was,  therefore,  surprised 
when,  half  an  hour  later,  the  little  investigator 
presented  himself. 

She  met  him  in  the  presence  of  her  fiance, 
and  it  was  clear  to  Jasper  what  Saul  Arthur 
Mann's  intentions  were. 

320 


THE   MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

"  I  don't  want  to  make  myself  a  nuisance," 
he  said,  "  but  before  we  go  any  further,  Miss 
Nuttall,  there  are  certain  matters  on  which 
you  ought  to  be  informed.  I  have  every  reason 
to  believe  that  I  know  who  was  responsible  for 
the  outrage  of  last  night,  and  I  do  not  intend 
risking  a  repetition." 

"  Who  do  you  think  was  responsible?  "  asked 
the  girl  quietly. 

"  I  honestly  believe  that  the  author  is  in  this 
room,"  was  the  startling  response. 

"  You  mean  me?  "  asked  Jasper  Cole  angrily. 

"  I  mean  you,  Mr.  Cole.  I  believe  that  you 
are  the  man  who  planned  the  coup  and  that  you 
are  its  sole  author,"  said  the  other. 

The  girl  stared  at  him  in  astonishment. 

"  You  surely  do  not  mean  what  you  say." 

"  I  mean  that  Mr.  Cole  has  every  reason  for 
wishing  to  marry  you,"  he  said.  "  What  that 
reason  is  I  do  not  know  completely,  but  I  shall 
discover.  I  am  satisfied,"  he  went  on  slowly,. 
"  that  Mr.  Cole  is  already  married." 

She  looked  from  one  to  the  other, 
321 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  Already  married  ?  "  repeated  Jasper. 

"  If  he  is  not  already  married,"  said  Saul 
Arthur  Mann  bluntly,  "  then  I  have  been  in- 
discreet. The  only  thing  I  can  tell  you  is  that 
your  fiance  has  been  traveling  on  the  Con- 
tinent with  a  lady  who  describes  herself  as 
Mrs.  Cole." 

Jasper  said  nothing  for  a  moment,  but  looked 
at  the  other  oddly  and  thoughtfully. 

"  I  understand,  Mr.  Mann,"  he  said  at 
length,  "  that  you  collect  facts  as  other  people 
collect  postage  stamps  ?  " 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  bristled. 

'  You  may  carry  this  off,  sir,"  he  began,  "  if 
you  can  —  " 

"  Let  me  speak,"  said  Jasper  Cole,  raising 
his  voice.  ''  I  want  to  ask  you  this :  Have  you 
a  complete  record  of  John  Minute's  life?" 

"  I  know  it  so  well,"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann 
emphatically,  "  that  I  could  repeat  his  history 
word  for  word." 

"Will  you  sit  down,  May?"  said  Jasper, 
taking  the  girl's  hand  in  his  and  gently  forcing 

322 


THE    MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

her  to  a  chair.  "  We  are  going  to  put  Mr. 
Mann's  memory  to  the  test." 

"  Do  you  seriously  mean  that  you  want  me 
to  repeat  that  history?"  asked  the  other  sus- 
piciously. 

"  I  mean  just  that,"  said  Jasper,  and  drew 
up  a  chair  for  his  unpleasant  visitor. 

The  record  of  John  Minute's  life  came  trip- 
pingly from  Mann's  tongue.  He  knew  to  an 
extraordinary  extent  the  details  of  that  strange 
and  wild  career. 

"  In  1892,"  said  the  investigator,  continuing 
his  narrative,  "  he  was  married  at  St.  Bride's 
church,  Port  Elizabeth,  to  Agnes  Gertrude 
Cole." 

"  Cole,"  murmured  Jasper. 

The  little  man  looked  at  him  with  open 
mouth. 

"Cole!    Good  Lord  —  you  are  —  " 

"  I  am  his  son,"  said  Jasper  quietly.  "  I  am 
one  of  his  two  children.  Your  information  is 
that  there  was  one.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there 
were  two.  My  mother  left  my  father  with  one 

323 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

of  the  greatest  scoundrels  that  has  ever  lived. 
He  took  her  to  Australia,  where  my  sister  was 
born  six  months  after  she  had  left  John  Minute. 
There  her  friend  deserted  her,  and  she  worked 
for  seven  years  as  a  kitchen  maid,  in  Mel- 
bourne, in  order  to  save  up  enough  money  to 
bring  us  to  Cape  Town.  My  mother  opened 
a  tea  shop  off  Aderley  Street,  and  earned 
enough  to  educate  me  and  my  sister.  It  was 
there  she  met  Crawley,  and  Crawley  promised 
to  use  his  influence  with  my  father  'to  bring 
about  a  reconciliation  for  her  children's  sake. 
I  do  not  know  what  was  the  result  of  his  at- 
tempt, but  I  gather  it  was  unsuccessful,  and 
things  went  on  very  much  as  they  were 
before. 

'  Then  one  day,  when  I  was  still  at  the  South 
African  College,  my  mother  went  home,  taking 
my  sister  with  her.  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  Crawley  was  responsible  for  her  sailing 
and  that  he  met  them  on  landing.  All  that  I 
knew  was  that  from  that  day  my  mother  dis- 
appeared. She  had  left  me  a  sum  of  money 

324 


THE   MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

to  continue  my  studies,  but  after  eight  months 
had  passed,  and  no  word  had  come  from  her, 
I  decided  to  go  on  to  England.  I  have  since 
learned  what  had  happened.  My  mother  had 
been  seized  with  a  stroke  and  had  been  con- 
veyed to  the  workhouse  infirmary  by  Crawley, 
who  had  left  her  there  and  had  taken  my  sister, 
who  apparently  he  passed  off  as  his  own 
daughter. 

"  I  did  not  know  this  at  the  time,  but  being 
well  aware  of  my  father's  identity  I  wrote  to 
him,  asking  him  for  help  to  discover  my 
mother.  He  answered,  telling  me  that  my 
mother  was  dead,  that  Crawley  had  told  him 
so,  and  that  there  was  no  trace  of  Marguerite, 
my  sister.  We  exchanged  a  good  many  letters, 
and  then  my  father  asked  me  to  come  and  act 
as  his  secretary  and  assist  him  in  his  search 
for  Marguerite.  What  he  did  not  know  was 
that  Crawley's  alleged  daughter,  whom  he  had 
not  seen,  was  the  girl  for  whom  he  was  seek- 
ing. I  fell  into  the  new  life,  and  found  John 
Minute  —  I  can  scarcely  call  him  '  father  '  — 

325 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

much  more  bearable  than  I  expected  —  and 
then  one  day  I  found  my  mother." 

'  You  found  your  mother  ? "  said  Saul 
Arthur  Mann,  a  light  dawning  upon  him. 

"  Your  persistent  search  of  the  little  house 
in  Silvers  Rents  produced  nothing,"  he  smiled. 
"  Had  you  taken  the  bamboo  ladder  and 
crossed  the  yard  at  the  back  of  the  house  into 
another  yard,  then  through  the  door,  you  would 
have  come  to  Number  16  Royston  Court,  and 
you  would  have  been  considerably  surprised 
to  find  an  interior  much  more  luxurious  than 
you  would  have  expected  in  that  quarter.  In 
Royston  Court  they  spoke  of  Number  16  as 
*  the  house  with  the  nurses  '  because  there  were 
always  three  nurses  on  duty,  and  nobody  ever 
saw  the  inside  of  the  house  but  themselves. 
There  you  would  have  found  my  mother,  bed- 
ridden, and,  indeed,  so  ill  that  the  doctors  who 
saw  her  would  not  allow  her  to  be  moved  from 
the  house. 

"  I  furnished  this  hovel  piece  by  piece, 
generally  at  night,  because  I  did  not  want  to 

326 


THE   MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

excite  the  curiosity  of  the  people  in  the  court, 
nor  did  I  wish  this  matter  to  reach  the  ears  of 
John  Minute.  I  felt  that  while  I  retained  his 
friendship  and  his  confidence  there  was  at  least 
a  chance  of  his  reconciliation  with  my  mother, 
and  that,  before  all  things,  she  desired.  It  was 
not  to  be,"  he  said  sadly.  "  John  Minute  was 
struck  down  at  the  moment  my  plans  seemed 
as  though  they  were  going  to  result  in  complete 
success.  Strangely  enough,  with  his  death, 
my  mother  made  an  extraordinary  recovery, 
and  I  was  able  to  move  her  to  the  Continent. 
She  had  always  wanted  to  see  Holland,  France, 
and  at  this  moment "  —  he  turned  to  the  girl 
with  a  smile  —  "  she  is  in  the  chalet  which  you 
occupied  during  your  holiday." 

Mr.  Mann  was  dumfounded.  All  his  pet 
theories  had  gone  by  the  board. 

"  But  what  of  your  sister?  "  he  asked  at  last. 

A  black  look  gathered  in  Jasper  Cole's  face. 

"  My  sister's  whereabouts  are  known  to  me 
now,"  he  said  shortly.  "  For  some  time  she 
lived  in  Camden  Town,  at  Number  69  Flower- 

327 


THE   MAN   WHO  KNEW 

ton  Road.  At  the  present  moment  she  is  nearer 
and  is  watched  night  and  day,  almost  as  care- 
fully as  Mr.  Mann's  agents  are  watching  you." 
He  smiled  again  at  the  girl. 

"  Watching  me?  "  she  said,  startled. 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  went  red. 

"  It  was  my  idea/'  he  said  stiffly. 

"  And  a  very  excellent  one,"  agreed  Jasper, 
"  but  unfortunately  you  appointed  your  guards 
too  late." 

Mr.  Mann  went  back  to  his  office,  his  brain 
in  a  whirl,  yet  such  was  his  habit  that  he  did 
not  allow  himself  to  speculate  upon  the  new 
and  amazing  situation  until  he  had  carefully 
jotted  down  every  new  fact  he  had  collected. 

It  was  astounding  that  he  had  overlooked 
the  connection  between  Jasper  Cole  and  John 
Minute's  wife.  His  labors  did  not  cease  until 
eleven  o'clock,  and  he  was  preparing  to  go 
home  when  the  commissionaire  who  acted  as 
caretaker  came  to  tell  him  that  a  lady  wished 
to  see  him. 

"  A  lady  ?  At  this  hour  of  the  night  ?  "  said 
328 


THE   MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

Mr.  Mann,  perturbed.  '  Tell  her  to  come  in 
the  morning." 

"  I  have  told  her  that,  sir,  but  she  insists 
upon  seeing  you  to-night." 

"What  is  her  name?" 

"Mrs.  Merrill,"  said  the  commissionaire. 

Saul  Arthur  Mann  collapsed  into  his  chair. 

"  Show  her  up,"  he  said  feebly. 

He  had  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  girl, 
who  came  timidly  into  the  room,  as  the  original 
of  the  photograph  which  had  been  sent  to  him 
by  Constable  Wiseman.  She  was  plainly 
dressed  and  wore  no  ornament,  and  she  was 
undeniably  pretty,  but  there  was  about  her  a 
furtiveness  and  a  nervous  indecision  which 
spoke  of  her  apprehension. 

"  Sit  down,"  said  Mr.  Mann  kindly.  "  What 
do  you  want  me  to  do  for  you?  " 

"  I  am  Mrs.  Merrill,"  she  said  timidly. 

"  So  the  commissionaire  said,"  replied  the 
little  man.  '  You  are  nervous  about  some- 
thing?" 

"  Oh,  I  am  so  frightened ! "  said  the  girl, 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

with  a  shudder.     "If  he  knows  I  have  been 
here  he  '11  —  " 

'  You  have  nothing  to  be  frightened  about. 
Just  sit  here  for  one  moment." 

He  went  into  the  next  room,  which  had  a 
branch  telephone  connection,  and  called  up 
May.  She  was  out,  and  he  left  an  urgent 
message  that  she  was  to  come,  bringing  Jasper 
with  her,  as  soon  as  she  returned.  When 
he  got  back  to  his  office,  he  found  the  girl 
as  he  had  left  her,  sitting  on  the  edge  of  a 
big  armchair,  plucking  nervously  at  her 
handkerchief. 

"  I  have  heard  about  you,"  she  said.    "  He 

mentioned  you  once  —  before  we  went  to  that 

Sussex  cottage  with  Mr.  Crawley.    They  were 

going  to  bring  another  lady,  and  I  was  to  look 

'  after  her,  but  he  —  " 

"  Who  is  '  he '?  "  asked  Mr.  Mann. 

"  My  husband,"  said  the  girl. 

"  How  long  have  you  been  married  ?  "  de- 
manded the  little  man. 

"  I  ran  away  with  him  a  long  time  ago,"  she 
330 


THE   MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

said.  "  It  has  been  an  awful  life;  it  was  Mr. 
Crawley's  idea.  He  told  me  that  if  I  married 
Mr.  Merrill  he  would  take  me  to  see  my  mother 
and  Jasper.  But  he  was  so  cruel  —  " 

She  shuddered  again. 

"  We  've  been  living  in  furnished  houses  all 
over  the  country,  and  I  have  been  alone  most 
of  the  time,  and  he  would  not  let  me  go  out  by 
myself  or  do  anything." 

She  spoke  in  a  subdued,  monotonous  tone 
that  betrayed  the  nearness  of  a  bad,  nervous 
breakdown. 

"What  does  your  husband  call  himself?" 

"Why,  Frank  Merrill,"  said  the  girl  in 
astonishment ;  "  that 's  his  name.  Mr.  Crawley 
always  told  me  his  name  was  Merrill.  Is  n't 
it?" 

Mr.  Mann  shook  his  head. 

"  My  poor  girl,"  he  said  sympathetically, 
"  I  am  afraid  you  have  been  grossly  deceived. 
The  man  you  married  as  Merrill  is  an  im- 
postor." 

"  An  impostor  ?  "  she  faltered. 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

Mr.  Mann  nodded. 

"  He  has  taken  a  good  man's  name,  and  I  am 
afraid  has  committed  abominable  crimes  in 
that  man's  name,"  said  the  investigator  gently. 
"I  hope  we  shall  be  able  to  rid  you  and  the 
world  of  a  great  villain." 

Still  she  stared  uncomprehendingly. 

"  He  has  always  been  a  liar,"  she  said  slowly. 
"  He  lied  naturally  and  acted  things  so  well 
that  you  believed  him.  He  told  me  things 
which  I  know  aren't  true.  He  told  me  my 
brother  was  dead,  but  I  saw  his  name  in  the 
paper  the  other  day,  and  that  is  why  I  came  to 
you.  Do  you  know  Jasper  ?  " 

She  was  as  naive  and  as  unsophisticated  as 
a  schoolgirl,  and  it  made  the  little  man's  heart 
ache  to  hear  the  plaintive  monotony  of  tone 
and  see  the  trembling  lip. 

"  I  promise  you  that  you  will  meet  your 
brother,"  he  said. 

"  I  have  run  away  from  Frank,"  she  said 
suddenly.  "  Is  n't  that  a  wicked  thing  to  do? 
I  could  not  stand  it.  He  struck  me  again 

332 


THE   MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

yesterday,  and  he  pretends  to  be  a  gentleman. 
My  mother  used  to  say  that  no  gentleman  ever 
treats  a  woman  badly,  but  Frank  does." 

"  Nobody  shall  treat  you  badly  any  more," 
said  Mr.  Mann. 

"  I  hate  him !  "  she  went  on  with  sudden 
vehemence.  "  He  sneers  and  says  he  's  going 
to  get  another  wife,  and  —  oh !  " 

He  saw  her  hands  go  up  to  her  face,  and  saw 
her  staring  eyes  turn  to  the  door  in  affright. 

Frank  Merrill  stood  in  the  doorway,  and 
looked  at  her  without  recognition. 

!'  I  am  sorry,"  he  said.  "  You  have  a 
visitor?  " 

"  Come  in,"  said  Mr.  Mann.  "  I  am  awfully 
glad  you  called." 

The  girl  had  risen  to  her  feet,  and  was 
shrinking  back  to  the  wall. 

"  Do  you  know  this  lady?  " 

Frank  looked  at  her  keenly. 

"  Why,  yes,  that 's  Sergeant  Smith's  daugh- 
ter," he  said,  and  he  smiled.  "  Where  on  earth 
have  you  been  ?  " 

333 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

f<  Don't  touch  me ! "  she  breathed,  and  put 
her  hands  before  her,  warding  him  off. 

He  looked  at  her  in  astonishment,  and  from 
her  to  Mann.  Then  he  looked  back  at  the  girl, 
his  brow  wrinkled  in  perplexity. 

"  This  girl,"  said  Mr.  Mann,  "  thinks  she  is 
your  wife." 

"My  wife?"  said  Frank,  and  looked  again 
at  her. 

"  Is  this  a  bad  joke  or  something  —  do  you 
say  that  I  am  your  husband  ?  "  he  asked. 

She  did  not  speak,  but  nodded  slowly. 

He  sat  down  in  a  chair  and  whistled. 

"This  rather  complicates  matters,"  he  said 
blankly,  "  but  perhaps  you  can  explain  ?  " 

"I  only  know  what  the  girl  has  told  me," 
said  Mr.  Mann,  shaking  his  head.  "I  am 
afraid  there  is  a  terrible  mistake  here." 

Frank  turned  to  the  girl. 

"  But  did  your  husband  look  like  me  ?  " 

She  nodded. 

"  And  did  he  call  himself  Frank  Merrill?  " 


Again  she  nodded. 


334 


THE   MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

"Where  is  he  now?" 

She  nodded,  this  time  at  him. 

"  But,  great  heavens,"  said  Frank,  with  a 
gesture  of  despair,  "  you  do  not  suggest  that  / 
am  the  man?" 

"  You  are  the  man,"  said  the  girl. 

Again  Frank  looked  appealingly  at  his 
friend,  and  Saul  Arthur  Mann  saw  dismay 
and  laughter  in  his  eyes. 

"  I  don't  know  what  I  can  do,"  he  said. 
"  Perhaps  if  you  left  me  alone  with  her  for  a 
minute  —  " 

"Don't!  Don't!"  she  breathed.  "Don't 
leave  me  alone  with  him.  Stay  here." 

"  And  where  have  you  come  from  now  ? " 
asked  Frank. 

"  From  the  house  where  you  took  me.  You 
struck  me  yesterday,"  she  went  on  incon- 
sequently. 

Frank  laughed. 

"  I  am  not  only  married,  but  I  am  a  wife 
beater  apparently,"  he  said  desperately.  "  Now 
what  can  I  do?  I  think  the  best  thing  that  can 

335 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

be  done  is  for  this  lady  to  tell  us  where  she 
lives  and  I  will  take  her  back  and  confront 
her  husband." 

"  I  won't  go  with  you !  "  cried  the  girl.  "  I 
won't !  I  won't !  You  said  you  'd  look  after 
me,  Mr.  Mann.  You  promised." 

The  little  investigator  saw  that  she  was  dis- 
traught to  a  point  where  a  collapse  was  im- 
minent. 

:'This  gentleman  will  look  after  you  also," 
he  said  encouragingly.  "  He  is  as  anxious  to 
save  you  from  your  husband  as  anybody." 

"  I  will  not  go/'  she  cried.  "  If  that  man 
touches  me,"  and  she  pointed  to  Frank,  "  I  '11 
scream.'" 

Again  came  the  tap  at  the  door,  and  Frank 
looked  round. 

"  More  visitors  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  It  is  all  right,"  said  Saul  Arthur  Mann. 
'  There 's  a  lady  and  a  gentleman  to  see  me, 
isn't  there?"  he  asked  the  commissionaire. 
"  Show  them  in." 

May  came  first,  saw  the  little  tableau,  and 
336 


THE    MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

stopped,  knowing  instinctively  all  that  it  por- 
tended.   Jasper  followed  her. 

The  girl,  who  had  been  watching  Frank, 
shifted  her  eyes  for  a  moment  to  the  visitors, 
and  at  sight  of  Jasper  flung  across  the  room. 
In  an  instant  her  brother's  arms  were  around 
her,  and  she  was  sobbing  on  his  breast. 

"Am  I  entitled  to  ask  what  all  this  means?  " 
asked  Frank  quietly.  "  I  am  sure  you  will 
overlook  my  natural  irritation,  but  I  have 
suffered  so  much  and  I  have  been  the  victim 
of  so  many  surprises  that  I  do  not  feel  inclined 
to  accept  all  the  shocks  which  fate  sends  me  in 
a  spirit  of  joyful  resignation.  Perhaps  you  will 
be  good  enough  to  elucidate  this  new  mystery. 
Is  everybody  mad  —  or  am  I  the  sole  sufferer  ?  " 

"  There  is  no  mystery  about  it,"  said  Jasper, 
still  holding  the  girl.  "  I  think  you  know  this 
lady?" 

"  I  have  never  met  her  before  in  my  life," 
said  Frank,  "  but  she  persists  in  regarding  me 
as  her  husband  for  some  reason.  Is  this  a  new 
scheme  o^  yours,  Jasper?" 

337 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

"  I  think  you  know  this  lady,"  said  Jasper 
Cole  again. 

Frank  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  You  are  almost  monotonous.  I  repeat  that 
I  have  never  seen  her  before." 

1  Then  I  will  explain  to  you,"  said  Jasper. 

He  put  the  girl  gently  from  him  for  a 
moment,  and  turned  and  whispered  some- 
thing to  May.  Together  they  passed  out  of 
the  room. 

'  You  were  confidential  secretary  to  John 
Minute  for  some  time,  Merrill,  and  in  that 
capacity  you  made  several  discoveries.  The 
most  remarkable  discovery  was  made  when 
Sergeant  Smith  came  to  blackmail  my  father. 
Oh,  don't  pretend  you  didn't  know  that  John 
Minute  was  my  father ! "  he  said  in  answer  to 
the  look  of  amazement  on  Frank  Merrill's  face. 

"  Smith  took  you  into  his  confidence,  and  you 
married  his  alleged  daughter.  John  Minute 
discovered  this  fact,  not  that  he  was  aware 
that  it  was  his  own  daughter,  or  that  he 
thought  that  your  association  with  my  sister 

338 


THE   MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

was  any  more  than  an  intrigue  beneath  the 
dignity  of  his  nephew.  You  did  not  think  the 
time  was  ripe  to  spring  a  son-in-law  upon  him, 
and  so  you  waited  until  you  had  seen  his  will. 
In  that  will  he  made  no  mention  of  a  daughter, 
because  the  child  had  been  born  after  his  wife 
had  left  him,  and  he  refused  to  recognize  his 
paternity. 

"  Later,  in  some  doubt  as  to  whether  he  was 
doing  an  injustice  to  what  might  have  been  his 
own  child,  he  endeavored  to  find  her.  Had  you 
known  of  those  investigations,  you  could  have 
helped  considerably,  but  as  it  happened  you 
did  not.  You  married  her  because  you  thought 
you  would  get  a  share  of  John  Minute's 
millions,  and  when  you  found  your  plan  had 
miscarried  you  planned  an  act  of  bigamy  in 
order  to  secure  a  portion  of  Mr.  Minute's 
fortune,  which  you  knew  would  be  consider- 
able." 

He  turned  to  Saul  Arthur  Mann. 

"  You  think  I  have  not  been  very  energetic 
in  pursuing  my  inquiries  as  to  who  killed  John 

339 


THE  MAN  WHO  KNEW 

Minute?  There  is  the  explanation  of  my 
tolerance." 

He  pointed  his  finger  at  Frank. 

"  This  man  is  the  husband  of  my  sister.  To 
ruin  him  would  have  meant  involving  her  in 
that  ruin.  For  a  time  I  thought  they  were 
happily  married.  It  was  only  recently  that  I 
have  discovered  the  truth." 

Frank  shook  his  head. 

"  I  don't  know  whether  to  laugh  or  cry,"  he 
said.  "  I  have  certainly  not  heard  —  " 

'  You  will  hear  more,"  said  Jasper  Cole.  "  I 
will  tell  you  how  the  murder  was  committed 
and  who  was  the  mysterious  Rex  Holland. 

"  Your  father  was  a  forger.  That  is  known. 
You  also  have  been  forging  signatures  since 
you  were  a  boy.  You  were  Rex  Holland.  You 
came  to  Eastbourne  on  the  night  of  the  mur- 
der, and  by  an  ingenious  device  you  secured 
evidence  in  your  favor  in  advance.  Pretending 
to  have  lost  your  ticket,  you  allowed  station 
officials  to  search  you  and  to  testify  that  you 
had  no  weapon.  You  were  dropped  at  the  gate 

340 


THE   MAN    CALLED    "MERRILL" 

of  my  father's  house,  and,  as  soon  as  the  cab 
driver  had  disappeared,  you  made  your  way 
to  where  you  had  hidden  your  car  in  a  field  at 
a  short  distance  from  the  house. 

'  You  had  arrived  there  earlier  in  the  even- 
ing, and  had  made  your  way  across  the  metals 
to  Polegate  Junction,  where  you  joined  the 
train.  As  you  had  taken  the  precaution  to  have 
your  return  ticket  clipped  in  London,  your  trick 
was  not  discovered.  You  had  regained  your 
car,  and  drove  up  to  the  house  ten  minutes  after 
you  had  been  seen  to  disappear  through  the 
gateway.  From  your  car  you  had  taken  the 
revolver,  and  with  that  revolver  you  murdered 
my  father.  In  order  to  shield  yourself  you 
threw  suspicion  on  me  and  made  friends  with 
one  of  the  shrewdest  men,"  he  inclined  his 
head  toward  the  speechless  Mr.  Mann,  "  and 
through  him  conveyed  those  suspicions  to 
authoritative  quarters.  It  was  you  who, 
having  said  farewell  to  Miss  Nuttall  in  Geneva, 
reappeared  the  same  evening  at  Montreux  and 
wrote  a  note  forging  my  handwriting.  It  was 

341 


THE   MAN   WHO   KNEW 

you  who  left  a  torn  sheet  of  paper  in  the  room 
at  Number  69  Flowerton  Road,  also  in  my 
writing. 

*  You  have  never  moved  a  step  but  that  I 
have  followed  you.  My  agents  have  been  with 
you  day  and  night  ever  since  the  day  of  the 
murder.  I  have  waited  my  time,  and  that  has 


come  now." 


Frank  heaved  a  long  sigh,  and  took  up  his 
hat. 

"  To-morrow  morning  I  shall  have  a  story 
to  tell,"  he  said. 

"  You  are  an  excellent  actor,"  said  Jasper, 
"and  an  excellent  liar,  but  you  have  never 
deceived  me." 

He  flung  open  the  door. 

"There  is  your  road.  You  have  twenty 
thousand  pounds  which  my  father  left  you. 
You  have  some  fifty-five  thousand  pounds 
which  you  buried  on  the  night  of  the  murder  — 
you  remember  the  gardener's  trowel  in  the 
car?  "  he  said,  turning  to  Mann. 

"  I  give  you  twenty- four  hours  to  leave 
342 


THE  MAN  CALLED  "  MERRILL  " 

England.  We  cannot  try  you  for  the  murder 
of  John  Minute;  you  can  still  be  tried  for  the 
murder  of  your  unfortunate  servants." 

Frank  Merrill  made  no  movement  toward 
the  door.  He  walked  over  to  the  other  end  of 
the  room,  and  stood  with  his  back  to  them. 
Then  he  turned. 

"  Sometimes,"  he  said,  "  I  feel  that  it  is  n't 
worth  while  going  on.  It  has  been  rather  a 
strain  —  all  this." 

Jasper  Cole  sprang  toward  him  and  caught 
him  as  he  fell.  They  laid  him  down,  and  Saul 
Arthur  Mann  called  urgently  on  the  tele- 
phone for  a  doctor,  but  Frank  Merrill  was 
dead. 

"  I  knew,"  said  Constable  Wiseman,  when 
the  story  came  to  him. 

THE  END 


The  greatest  pleasure  in  life  is 
that  of  reading.  Why  not  then 
own  the  books  of  great  novelists 
when  the  price  is  so  small 


C  Of  all  the  Amusements  which  can  possibly 
be  imagined  for  a  hard-working  man,  after 
his  daily  toil,  or  in  its  intervals,  there  is 
nothing  like  reading  an  entertaining  book. 
It  calls  for  no  bodily  exertion.  It  transports 
him  into  a  livelier,  and  gayer,  and  more  di- 
versified and  interesting  scene,  and  while  he 
enjoys  himself  there  he  may  forget  the  evils 
of  the  present  moment.  Nay,  it  accompanies 
him  to  his  next  day's  work,  and  gives  him 
something  to  think  of  besides  the  mere 
mechanical  drugdgery  of  his  every-day  occu- 
pation— something  he  can  enjoy  while  absent, 
and  look  forward  with  pleasure  to  return  to. 

Ask  your  dealer  for  a  list  of  the  titles 
in    Burt's    Popular    Priced    Fiction 


In  buying  the  books  bearing  the 
A.  L.  Burt  Company  imprint 
you  are  assured  of  wholesome,  en- 
tertaining and  instructive  reading 


THE   BEST   OF  RECENT   FICTION 

Jean  of  the  Lazy  A.    B.  M.  Bower. 

Jimmie  Dale  and  the  Phantom  Clue.    Frank  L.  Packard. 

Johnny  Nelson.     Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

Judith  of  the  Godless  Valley.     Honore  Willsie. 

Keeper  of  the  Door,  The.    Ethel  M.  Dell. 

Kent  Knowles:  Quahaug.     Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Keziah  Coffin.    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Kilmeny  of  the  Orchard.    L.  M.  Montgomery. 

Kindling  and  Ashes.    George  Barr  McCutcheon. 

Kingdom  of  the  Blind.    E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

King  By  Night,  A.    Edgar  Wallace. 

King  of  the  Wilderness.     Albert  Cooper  Allen. 

Knave  of  Diamonds,  The.    Ethel  M.  Dell. 

Kneel  To  The  Prettiest    Berta  Ruck. 

Knights  of  the  Desert.    W.  D.  Hoffman. 

Labels.    A.  Hamilton  Gibbs. 

Ladies  of  Lyndon,  The.    Margaret  Kennedy. 

Land  of  Forgotten  Men.     Edison  Marshall. 

Land  of  Mist,  The.     A.  Conan  Doyle. 

Last  Trail,  The.     Zane  Grey. 

Leap  Year  Girl,  The.    Berta  Ruck. 

Leave  It  to  Psmith.     P.  G.  Wodehouse. 

Letters   of  a   Self-Made   Diplomat   to   His   President.     Wil' 

Rogers. 

Light  That  Failed,  The.    Rudyard  Kipling. 
Limping  Sheriff,  The.     Arthur  Preston. 
Little  Pardner.     Eleanor  H.  Porter. 
Little  Red  Foot,  The.     Robert  W.  Chambers. 
Little  Ships.    Kathleen  Norris. 
Little  White  Hag,  The.     Francis  Beeding. 
Locked  Book,  The.    Frank  L.  Packard. 
Lone  Hand,  The.    Joseph  B.  Ames. 
Lone  Wolf,  The.    Louis  Joseph  Vance. 
Long  Live  the  King.    Mary  Roberts  Rinehart. 
Loring  Mystery,  The.     Jeffery  Farnol. 
Lost  World,  The.    A.  Conan  Doyle. 
Loudon  from  Laramie.    Joseph  B.  Ames. 
Luck  of  the  Kid,  The.    Ridgwell  Cullum. 
Lucky  in  Love.    Berta  Ruck. 
Lucretia  Lombard.     Kathleen  Norris. 
Lydia  of  the  Pines.     Honore  Willsie. 
Lynch  Lawyers.    William  Patterson  White, 

Madame  Claire.    Susan  Ertz. 


THE   BEST   OF  RECENT   FICTION 


Major,  The.     Ralph  Connor. 

Man  and  Maid.     Elinor  Glyn. 

Man  from  Bar-20,  The.     Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

Man  from  El  Paso,  The.     W.  D.  Hoffman. 

Man  from  Smiling  Pass,  The.    Eliot  H.  Robinson. 

Man  They  Couldn't  Arrest,  The.    Austin  J.  Small. 

Man  They  Hanged,  The.    Robert  W.  Chambers. 

Mare  Nostrum  (Our  Sea).    Vicente  Blasco  Ibanez. 

Martin  Conisby's  Vengeance.    Jeffery  Farnol. 

Mary-'Gusta.     Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Master  of  Man.     Hall  Caine. 

Master  of  the  Microbe,  The.    Robert  W.  Service. 

Memoirs  of  Sherlock  Holmes.     A.  Conan  Doyle. 

Men  Marooned.     George  Marsh. 

Michael's  Evil  Deeds.     E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Mine  With  the  Iron  Door.     Harold  Bell  Wright 

Mind  of  a  Minx,  The.     Berta  Ruck. 

Miracle.     Clarence  B.  Kelland. 

Mischief  Maker,  The.     E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Miss  Blake's  Husband.     Elizabeth  Jordan. 

Money,  Love  and  Kate.    Eleanor  H.  Potter. 

Money  Moon,  The.    Jeffery  Farnol. 

More  Tish.     Marv  Roberts  Rinehart. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sen.     Louise  Jordan  Miln. 

Mr.  Grex  of  Monte  Carlo.     E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Mr.  Pratt.    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Pratt's  Patients.    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Wu.     Louise  Jordan  Miln. 

Mrs.  Red  Pepper.     Grace  S.  Richmond. 

My  Best  GirL     Kathleen  Norris. 

My  Lady  of  the  North.     Randall  Pavrish. 

My  Lady  of  the  South.    Randall  Parrish. 

Mystery  of  the  Sycamore.     Carolyn  Wells. 

Mystery  Road,  The.  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Ne'er-Do- Well,  The.     Rex  Beach. 

Net,  The.    Rex  Beach. 

Night  Hawk.    Arthur  Stringer. 

Night  Horseman,  The.    Max  Brand. 

Night  Operator,  The.     Frank  L.  Packard 

Nina.     Susan  Ertz. 

No.  17.    J.  Jefferson  Fairjeon. 

Nobody's  Man.    E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

No  Defence.     Gilbert  Parker. 

North.    James  B.  Hendryx. 


THE   BEST   OF   RECENT   FICTION 


Oak  and  Iron.    James  B.  Hendryx. 

Obstacle  Race,  The.    Ethel  M.  Dell. 

Odds,  and  Other  Stories.     Ethel  M.  Dell. 

Old  Home  Town,  The.     Rupert  Hughes. 

Oliver  October.    George  Barr  McCutcheon. 

On  the  Rustler  Trail.     Robert  Ames  Bennet. 

Orphan,  The.    Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

Owner  of  the  Lazy  D.    William  Patterson  White. 

Padlocked.    Rex  Beach. 

Painted  Ponies.    Alan  Le  May. 

Paradise  Bend.    William  Patterson  White. 

Partners  of  the  Tide.    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Passer-By,  The,  and  Other  Stories.     Ethel  M.  Dell. 

Passionate  Quest,  The.    E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Patrol  of  the  Sun  Dance  Trail,  The.    Ralph  Connor 

Pawned.    Frank  L.  Packard. 

Pawns  Count,  The.     E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Pearl  Thief,  The.    Berta  Ruck. 

Peregrine's  Progress.     Jeffery  Farnol. 

Peter  Ruff  and  the  Double  Four.    E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Philopena^    Henry  Kitchell  Webster. 

Pine  Creek  Ranch.     Harold  Bindloss. 

Poisoned  Paradise,  The.     Robert  W.  Service. 

Pollyanna;  "The  Glad  Book."     (Trade  Mark.)     Eleanor  H. 

Porter. 
Pollyanna  of  the  Orange  Blossoms.    (Trade  Mark.)    Harriet 

Lummis  Smith. 

Poor  Man's  Rock.     Bertrand  W.  Sinclair. 
Poor  Wise  Man,  A.    Mary  Roberts  Rinehart. 
Portygee,  The.    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 
Possession.    Mazo  de  la  Roche,  author  of  "Jalna." 
Postmaster,  The.    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 
Power  of  the  Glory,  The.     Gilbert  Parker. 
Prairie  Flowers.     James  B.  Hendryx. 
Prairie  Mother,  The.    Arthur  Stringer. 
Prairie  Wife,  The.    Arthur  Stringer. 
Prfflilgirl.     Carolyn  Wells. 
Prodigal  Son.     Hall  Caine. 
Profiteers,  The.    E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 
Progressive  Marriage.    Bonnie  Busch. 
Promise,  The.    J.  B.  Hendryx. 
Purple  Mask,  The.    Louise  Jordan  Miln. 
Purple  Mist,  The.    Gladys  Edson  Locke, 

Queer  Judson,    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 


THE  BEST   OF  RECENT   FICTION 

Quest  of  the  Sacred  Slipper,  The.    Sax  Rohmer. 
Quill's  Window.     George   Barr  McCutcheon. 

Rainbow's  End,  The.    Rex  Beach. 

Rainbow  Valley.     L.  M.  Montgomery. 

Re-Creation  of  Brian  Kent,  The.    Harold  Bell  Wright. 

Red  and  Black.     Grace  S.  Richmond. 

Red  Lamp.     Mary  Roberts  Rinehart. 

Red  Ledger,  The.     Frank  L.  Packard. 

Red  Pepper  Burns.     Grace  S.   Richmond. 

Red  Pepper's  Patients.     Grace  S.  Richmond. 

Red  of  the  Redfields,  The.     Grace  S.  Richmond. 

Red  Road,  The.    Hugh  Pendexter. 

Red  Sky  at  Morning.    Margaret  Kennedy. 

Renegade.     Arthur  O.  Friel. 

Return  of  Dr.  Fu-Manchu.    Sax  Rohmer. 

Rhoda  Fair.     Clarence  Budington  Kelland. 

Riddle  of  Three  Way  Creek,  The.    Ridgwell  Cullum. 

Rider  of  the  Golden  Bar.     William  Patterson  White. 

Rilla  of  Ingleside.     L.  M.  Montgomery. 

Ringer,  The.     Edgar  Wallace. 

Rise  of  Roscoe  Paine,  The.    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Rivers  to  Cross.     Roland  Pertwee. 

Rocks  of  Valpre,  The.    Ethel  M.  Dell. 

Romantic  Comedians,  The.    Ellen  Glasgow. 

Romeo  in  Moon  Village.     George  Barr  McCutcheon. 

Rose  of  the  World.     Kathleen  Norris. 

Round  the  Corner  in  Gay  Street.    Grace  S.  Richmond 

Rowforest.     Anthony   Pryde. 

Ruben  and  Ivy  Sen.    Louise  Jordan  Miln. 

Rufus.     Grace  S.  Richmond. 

Rugged  Water.     Joseph  C.   Lincoln, 

Running  Special.     Frank  L.  Packard. 

Rustlers'  Valley.     Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

Sackcloth  and  Ashes.    E.  W.  Savi. 
Saint  Michael's  Gold.    H.  Bedford-Jones. 
Saint  of  the  Speedway.     Ridgwell  Cullum. 
Sea  Gull,  The.    Kathleen  Norris. 
Second  Violin,  The.    Grace  S.  Richmond. 
Seven  Sleepers,  The.    Francis  Beeding. 
Seventh  Man,  The.     Max  Brand. 
Seward's  Folly.     Edison  Marshall. 
Shadow  of  the  East,  The.     E.  M.  Hull 
Shavings.    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 
Sheik,  The.    E.  M.  HulL 


Shepherd  of  the  Hills,  The.    Harold  Bell  Wright. 

Shepherds  of  the  Wilds.     Edison  Marshall. 

Sherry.     George  Barr  McCutcheon. 

Sight  Unseen  and  the  Confession.     Mary  Roberts  Rinehart. 

Silver  Horde,  The.    Rex  Beach. 

Silver  Poppy,  The.     Arthur  Stringer. 

Sin  That  Was  His,  The.     Frank  L.  Packard. 

Singing  Heart,  The.     Florence  Ward. 

Sinister  Man,  The.     Edgar  Wallace. 

Sir  John  Bering.     Jeffery   Farnol. 

Sir  Percy  Hits  Back.     Baroness  Orczy. 

Sisters-in-Law.     Gertrude  Atherton. 

Sir  or  Madam.     Berta  Ruck. 

Six  Days.     Eleanor  Glyn. 

Sixth  Commandment.  The.    Carolyn  Wells. 

Skyline  of  Spruce,  The.     Edison  Marshall. 

Slayer  of  Souls,  The.    Robert  W.  Chambers. 

Sleeper  of  the  Moonlit  Ranges,  The.     Edison  Marshall. 

Small  Bachelor,  The.    P.  G.  Wodehouse. 

Smiles:  A  Rose  of  the  Cumberlands.    Eliot  H.  Robinson. 

Smiling  Pass.    Eliot  H.  Robinson. 

Snowdrift.     James  B.  Hendryx. 

Snowshoe  Trail,  The.    Edison  Marshall. 

Son  of  His  Father,  A.     Harold  Bell  Wright. 

Sons  of  the  Sheik.     E.  H.  Hull. 

Sorrows  of  Satan.     Marie  Correlli. 

Soul  of  China  and  Other  Stories,  The.    Louis  Jordan  Milnc 

Soundings.     A.  Hamilton  Gibbs. 

Spaniard,  The.    Juanita  Savage. 

Spirit  of  Iron.    Harwood  Steele. 

Spirit  of  the  Border,  The.     Zane  Ore*-. 

Spoilers,  The.     Rex  Beach. 

Spooky  Hollow.     Carolyn  Wells. 

Steele  of  the  Royal  Mounted*    James  Oliver  Curwood. 

Stepchild  of  the  Moon.    Fulton  Oursler. 

Still  Jim.     Honore  Willsie. 

Stolen  Idols.     E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Story  Girl,  The.    L.  M.  Montgomery. 

Strange  Case  of  Cavendish.    Randall  Parrish. 

Strawberry  Acres.     Grace  S.  Richmond. 

Strength  of  the  Pines.     Edison  Marshall. 

Subconscious  Courtship.     Berta  Ruck. 

Substitute  Millionaire.     Hulbert  Footmer. 

Sweet  Stranger.    Berta  Ruck. 


THE   BEST   OF  RECENT   FICTION 

Tales  of  Chinatown.    Sax  Rohmer. 

Tales  of  Secret  Egypt.    Sax  Rohmer. 

Tales  of  Sherlock  Holmes.     A.  Conan  Doyle. 

Temperamental  People.     Mary  Roberts  Rinehart. 

Tenderfoots,  The.     Francis  Lynde. 

Terrible  People,  The.     Edgar  Wallace. 

Terror  Keep.     Edgar  Wallace. 

Tetherstones.     Ethel  M.  Dell. 

Tex.     Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

Texan,  The.     James  B.  Hendryx. 

ThankfuTs  Inheritance.     Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

That  Printer  of  Udell's.     Harold  Bell  Wright. 

Their  Yesterdays.     Harold  Bell  Wright. 

Three  of  Hearts,  The.     Berta  Ruck. 

Three  Ships  in  Azure.    Irvin  Anthony. 

Tish.     Mary  Roberts  Rinehart. 

To  Him  That  Hath.     Ralph  Connor. 

Torrent,  The.     (Entre  Naranjos.)     Vicente  Blasco  Ibanez. 

Trailin'.     Max   Brand. 

Treading  the  Wine  Press.     Ralph  Connor. 

Treasure.     Albert  Payson  Terhune. 

Trimmed  Lamp,  The.    O.  Henry. 

Triumph  of  John  Kars.    Ridgwell  Cullum. 

T.  Tembarom,     Frances  Hodgson  Burnett. 

Tumbleweeds.    Hal  G.  Evarts. 

Twenty-fourth  of  June.     Grace  S.  Richmond. 

Twisted  Foot,  The.    William  Patterson  White. 

Two  Stolen  Idols.    Frank  L.  Packard. 

Uncertain  Glory,  The.    Ey  Harriet  Lummis  Smith. 
Under  the  Country  Sky.     Grace  S.  Richmond. 
Under  the  Rainbow  Sky.     Alice  Ross  Colver. 
Uneasy  Street.    Arthur  Somers  Roche. 
Unknown  Quantity,  The,     Ethel  M.  Dell. 
Untamed,  The.     Max   Brand. 

Valley  of  Fear,  The.    A.  Conan  Doyle. 

Valley  of  Voices,  The.     George   Marsh. 

Vandemark's  Folly.    Herbert  Quick. 

Vanished  Messenger,  The.     E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Vanity  Case,  The.     Carolyn  Wells. 

Vanity  Fair.     Wm.  M.  Thackeray. 

Vickey  Van.     Carolyn  Wells. 

Viola  Gwyn,     George  Barr  McCutcheon. 

Virgin  of  Yesterday,  A.    Dorothy  Speare. 

Virginia  of  Elk  Creek  Valley.    Mary  Ellen  Chase. 


THE   BEST   OF  RECENT   FICTION 


Virtuous  Husband,  The.    Freeman  Tilden. 
Voice  of  the  Pack,  The.     Edison  Marshall. 

Wagon  Wheel,  The.     William  Patterson  White. 

Walls  of  Glass.    Larry  Barretto. 

Way  of  an  Eagle,  The.     Ethel   M.   Dell. 

Way  of  the  Strong,  The.     Ridgwell   Cullum. 

Way  of  These  Women.    E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

We  Must  March.    Honore  Willsie. 

West  Broadway.    Nina  Wilcox  Putnam. 

Westward  to  Paradise.    W.  D.  Hoffman. 

West  Wind.    Crosbie  Garstin. 

West  Wind  Drift     George  Barr  McCutcheon. 

Wheels  Within  Wheels.     Carolyn  Wells. 

Whelps  of  the  Wolf.     George  Marsh. 

When  a  Man's  a  Man.     Harold  Bell  Wright. 

Where  the  Waters  Turn.    Theodore  Von  Ziekursch. 

Whispering  Outlaw,  The.    George  Owen  Baxter. 

White  Wolf,  The.     Max  Brand. 

White  Moll,  The.    FranE  L.  Packard. 

Wild  West.     Bertrand  W.  Sinclair. 

Window  at  the  White  Cat.    Mary  Roberts  Rinehart. 

Winds  of  Chance,  The.    Rex  Beach. 

Winning  of  Barbara  Worth.    Harold  Bell  Wright. 

Wire  Devils,  The.     Frank  L,  Packard. 

Wishing  Ring  Man,  The.     Margaret  Widdemer. 

With  Juliet  in  England.     Grace  S.  Richmond. 

Without  Gloves.     James  B.  Hendryx. 

Woman  Haters,  The.    Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Woman  of  Knockaloe,  The.    Hall  Cane. 

Woman  Thou  Gavest  Me.    Hall  Caine. 

Women  of  the  Family,  The.     Margaret  Culkin  Banning 

Woodcarver  of  'Lympus.    Mary  E.  Waller. 

Wrath  to  Come,  The.    E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Wrong  Mr.  Wright,  The.    Berta  Ruck. 

Year  of  Delight,  The.    Margaret  Widdemer. 

Yellow  Claw,  The.     Sax  Rohmer. 

Yellow  Shadows.     Sax  Rohmer. 

You  Can't  Win.    Jack  Black. 

You're  Only  Young  Once.    Margaret  Widdemer. 

You're  Young  But  Once.     Louise  Breitenbach  Clancy, 

Zeppelin's  Passenger,  The.    E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 


000  1 34  842     4 


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